Aradia's Throne
by Aquila Aqua
Summary: Medieval AU. Ban and Arata are leaders of the rebel group Aidara who aims to take back the kingdom of Aradia and let Ban ascend the throne. Full summary inside. Please review.
1. Prologue

Years ago, the royal family of Aradia has been usurped by Yoshimitsu Kaidou, the kingdom's advisor and executed...all except for the princes of Aradia, Ban Yamano and Arata Yamano. They have escaped and hidden in the forest for years along with their friends. Now, they are the leaders of the rebel group, Aidara. Their goal is to reclaim the kingdom and allow Ban to ascend the throne.

* * *

**Aidara****\- The rebel group who opposes Kaidou Yoshimitsu's rule on Aradia. Most of the time, they live in nearby towns and live their daily normal lives except for the higher ranked members for obvious reasons. However, when called, they will gather in the inner part of the forest and plan their next move there for days depending on whatever they are planning on.**

**Ban Yamano**\- Former prince of Aradia. Along with his brother and best friends, Kazu and Ami, he started the rebel group Aidara to reclaim the kingdom and avenge his parent's death. As the leader, he is kind and compassionate and refuse to fight unless necessary.

**Arata Yamano- **Former prince of Aradia and younger brother of Ban. He is very smart and is good in thinking up strategies although he could be an airhead at times. Along with his friends, Haruki and Hikaru, he is a skilled fighter. Best in handling a sword and shield

**Kazuya Aoshima**\- Bodyguard and best friend of Ban, lover of Ami. His parents were the ones who helped Ban and Arata to escape during the final battle between Aradia years ago. He is also the second in command of Aidara. Best in using a spear.

**Ami Kawamura**\- Advisor and best friend of Ban, lover of Kazu. Ami followed Ban and Kazu into the forest after her parents were killed in the final battle. As Ban's advisor, she gives advice to Ban and helps Arata to plan his strategies.

**Hikaru Honshihara**\- His parents were servants to the late king and queen and therefore grew up with Arata. When Yoshimitsu Kaidou took over the kingdom, he was among the children of the servants who managed to escape. Joining Aidara, he practised constantly to hone his skills. Best in handling daggers.

**Haruki Izumo**\- Also a child of the servants of the palace, he managed to escape during the war and hid with Arata and Hikaru. He is more of a strategist than a fighter, but gives support to Arata and Hikaru whenever possible. Best in handling a sword.

**Ran Hanasaki**\- Member of Aidara. Ban took her in after her grandfather was executed for not able to pay his tax. She trained in her grandfather's style of hand to hand combat to honour him. Best in hand to hand combat.

**Hiro Oozora**\- Ran's friend who had no idea she was a part of Aidara until she accidentally blurted it out. Ever since then, he was sworn to secrecy and helps Aidara pass on information around as a normal commoner to avoid suspicion.

**Hanzou Gouda**\- The hunter of Aidara. He is responsible along with Hana to gather food for the group whenever they are gathered together in the forest. Best in using a crossbow.

**Asuka Kojou**\- The tomboy of Aidara. Her brother is the local blacksmith of Misora Town. Most of the time, she lives in the forest instead of staying with her brother. Best in using a spear.

**Takeru Kojou**\- The blacksmith of Misora Town. He acts as the middle person to deliver Hikari's findings on the palace to his sister who would inform Ban.

**Hana Kayagi**\- The other hunter of Aidara. Normally, she is a friendly and kind teacher who teaches a group of children; but when Ban calls for her to Aidara's meetings, she is very cold and emotionless. She hates owing people. Best in using a bow and arrows.

**Sakuya Hosono**\- He is in charge of creating Aidara's weapons and their blacksmith. Also the apprentice of Takeru.

**Hikari Honshihara**\- The youngest member of Aidara and Hikaru's younger twin. Currently, she is working as a servant in the royal palace, sneaking information to Takeru whenever she can. Has a small crush on Muraku.

* * *

**Kaidou Empire**

**Yoshimitsu Kaidou**\- Former advisor of the king and queen of Aradia until he usurped the throne and got rid of the royal family except for the princes who managed to escape. For years, he ruled Aradia by being a tyrant. After he became king of Aradia, he adopted Jin and Muraku and made them the princes of Aradia.

**Alfedo Gardyne**\- Aradia's governor and Yoshimitsu Kaidou's most trusted official.

**Bishop**\- Mayor of Misora Town.

**Tougorou Kamiya**\- One of the king's advisors. He often urges his son to get married soon.

**Seredy Kriesler**\- One of the king's advisors. Although he looks like he's 16, he is actually a lot more older than that.

**Kousuke Kamiya**\- A knight of Aradia and lives in the palace. Tends to flirt with Hikari although she made it clear that she dislikes him.

**Jin Kaidou**-Prince of Aradia. He may seem cool on the outside, but in reality, he is very kind to others especially to his brother, Muraku. On his eighteenth birthday, he is to be crowned king of Aradia and ascend the throne.

**Muraku Kaidou**\- The other prince of Aradia, though he prefers to travel a lot. His only friends are Vanessa, Mikhail, Kageto and occasionally, Hikari. Has a small crush on Hikari.

**Yuuya Haibara**\- Jin's bodyguard and best friend. Ever since his parents died in the same accident as Jin's parents, he has been living in the palace and trained to protect Jin.

**Jessica Kaios**\- Jin's personal servant and friend. She often gives Jin advice whenever needed.

**Vanessa Gala**\- Muraku's personal servant and one of his oldest friends. Her parents, like her, are servants in the palace, and wants her to have a life outside the palace but she refused to stay close to Mikhail and Muraku. Has a crush on Mikhail.

**Mikhail Rourke**\- Muraku's bodyguard and best friend. Loves to travel with Muraku and hunt. Has a crush on Vanessa.

**Kageto Kiba**\- Son of the blacksmith of the palace. He is in charge of sharpening Muraku's weapons and creates new ones for both Jin and Muraku.

* * *

**Others**

**Yuno Kashima**\- Princess of the neighboring kingdom, Odela.

**Catherin Ruth, Hanako Sonoyama, Kiyoka Sendou**\- Yuno's servants

**Daiki Sendou**\- Kiyoka's brother and Yuno's bodyguard. Has a rivalry with Gouda.

**Claudia Renneton**\- Ruler of Wecasta. She used to be an ally and friend of the former king of Aradia. However, when Kaidou Yoshimitsu took over the kingdom, she cut off all relation and trade with Aradia.

* * *

**Prologue**

_Screams can be heard as more soldiers were being killed outside the palace. The king and queen however were still remaining calm in the throne room._

_ "__Your highness, please escape while you can!" A servant, Honshihara, mother of Hikaru and Hikari, plead to the king and queen as she rushed inside the throne room._

_The king shook his head. "We will stay here to the very end. Just make sure that our sons escape safely."_

_ "__But, please, your highness..."_

_ "__That is an order." The king told her firmly. "Get my sons and all the children in the palace out of here. Do it for the sake of your children."_

_ "__...Yes, your highness." Honshihara bowed and rushed out to gather all the children in the cellar._

* * *

_ "__Aoshima, are all the children here?" Honshihara asked her fellow coworker as she held on to her twins tightly._

_Aoshima nodded. "They are all that are left. Ban, come here."_

_Ban immediately went to the front. "Hai?"_

_Aoshima crouched down to the child's eye level and saw the fear in his eyes. "Listen closely, we are going to get all of you out of here. Bring your brother and the others to the forest as soon as you reach the exit. Be strong and look out for everyone there."_

_Ban nodded limply. "Mom and dad are not coming?"_

_Aoshima shook his head. "No, their first priority is you and your brother to escape."_

_Honshihara glanced out of the window and gasped. "There's not much time left. They have broken through the gates."_

_Aoshima nodded and pushed a stone and a trapdoor opened. "Ban, get your brother. Kazu, take Haruki. Ami, bring Hikaru and Hikari."_

_The children did just as they were told and Aoshima gave Ban some final instructions. "Ban, go down this tunnel. It will lead you to the outskirts of the forest, from there, gather more people and fight the bad guys. Take back the throne. Your father will be proud of you."_

_Ban nodded sadly and turned to Kazu and Ami. "Let's go."_

_Kazu gave his father one last look before he descended into the tunnel while Ami followed behind, blinking back her tears. Lastly, Ban tugged on his brother's hand to get him to go down the tunnel but Arata burst into tears. "I don't want to go! I want Mommy!"_

_Ban threw Aoshima a frantic look. They were not going to get anywhere if Arata does not move. As a last resort, Aoshima lifted Arata up and placed him on Ban's shoulders. "GO!"_

_Ban nodded and with his brother thrashing on his back, he descended into the tunnel. When Aoshima was sure that Ban was gone, he closed the trapdoor and smashed the stone that would open the trapdoor. "That should stop them from finding the trapdoor."_

_Honshihara blinked back her own tears and nodded. "I hope so."_

* * *

_ "__Ban-nii-san, I don't want to stay here! I want Mommy! I want Daddy!" Arata screamed as Ban ran down the tunnel with Kazu and Ami following closely behind. Ban sighed and slowed down a little. _

_ "__Arata, I understand that you don't want to be here. I do not want to be here anymore than you are." Ban shifted so that he can look at Arata. "But, remember, mom and dad wants us to escape so that we will be safe."_

_ "__But..."_

_ "__I promise, no matter what happens I will be here to protect you just like how mom and dad protected us." Ban told him firmly. Arata stared at his brother of a moment and slowly nodded. "Ok."_

_ "__Ban, we should hurry." Kazu told him when he and Ami caught up. "The explosions are getting louder."_

_ "__Ah." Ban shifted Arata again so that he was positioned comfortably on his back._

_ "__It's ok, Arata. It's ok..."_

* * *

"...-rata! Arata!"

Arata jumped awake as the voice became more insistent. "What is it?!"

He heard a chuckle from his brother as he sat down beside him on the bed. "Having a nightmare again?"

Arata nodded, not looking at Ban. "I was dreaming...about that time...again."

Ban's face became serious. "And?"

Arata buried his face into Ban's arm. "I miss them." He murmured.

Ban stroke his hair. "I miss them too. But remember, they are always watching us. They are protecting us up there as we speak."

Arata looked up at his brother with watery eyes. "Are you sure?"

Ban nodded. "I'm sure. Get some sleep now. Good night."

"Good night."

* * *

**Author's note: There will be some parings like Mikhail/Vanessa, Muraku/OC, and there might be a Jin/OC paring, but I'm not sure yet. Also, please let me know if you like it.**


	2. Chapter 1

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

The morning sun lighted up the land with its rays as the birds flew to find their breakfast. But they are not the only ones who are already up at this hour.

Inside the palace, a young teen with long purple hair that was braided up into a bun and grey eyes walked down one of the numerous corridors of the palace. As she walked to the kitchen, she tugged on her long brown dress to make sure that there are no wrinkles on it. Satisfied with the result, she pushed the door to the kitchen open and began her daily routine to prepare food for Muraku.

"Good morning, Vanessa." Jessica, an older teen with blond hair that was tied into a ponytail and blue eyes, greeted the girl as she entered the kitchen. Like Vanessa, she was wearing a long brown dress, but the sleeves were yellow instead of brown.

"Good morning, Jessica-san." The girl greeted back politely and proceeded to make Muraku's favorite breakfast while Jessica did the same for Jin.

"Can you cook an extra egg since you are there?" Jessica asked Vanessa who was at the stove, getting prepared to cook eggs.

Vanessa nodded. "Sure, can you prepare the dishes then?"

Jessica nodded and they continued to do their jobs silently until Hikari came into the kitchen.

"Good morning!" Hikari greeted cheerfully. Her long blond hair was tied up neatly into her usual bun and her blue eyes were sparkling with cheeriness. She was wearing a slightly different orange dress from Vanessa and Jessica.

Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "Looks like someone is happy today."

Hikari paused and giggled. "Today is just so warm and sunny that I cannot help but feel happy."

Jessica smiled and patted her shoulder. "It's good to be happy. By the way, is there anything you need here?"

Hikari shook her head. "Not really, cook wants me to make an inventory and buy the things that are lacking at the market."

Vanessa tapped her chin. "We're down to three more eggs...and I think the onions are already finished..."

"And we are running out of black beans." Jessica added.

Hikari nodded. "Got it. But I also have to check the cellar and pantry too." She said as she went to the pantry.

"Just don't freak out when you see a mice or something." Vanessa joked. Hikari just rolled her eyes and entered the pantry.

"Are the eggs done?" Jessica called to her. Vanessa nodded and placed the eggs onto two plates. Jessica placed the plates on two trays; one was blue while the other was purple. "The tea is done too." She picked up the blue tray and left the kitchen, leaving Vanessa to take the purple tray.

* * *

Vanessa balanced the tray in her hand and knocked on the brown door that was beautifully decorated with leaves and flowers. "Your highness, I brought your breakfast."

A muffled answer came. "Come in."

Vanessa opened the door and entered the room. The room was nicely decorated with just a simple bed, bedside cabinet, wardrobe, and a table. Simple yet the room had an air of importance thanks to its owner, Prince Muraku Kaidou.

"Your highness." Vanessa curtsied and placed the tray on the table where Muraku was reading a book. The boy had long black hair with white accents and purple-yellow eyes. He was wearing a white shirt and purple vest over it and black pants.

Muraku smiled and lowered his book. "Thank you Vanessa. And I told you before, when it is just us, call me Muraku."

Vanessa chuckled. "If that is what you say, Muraku." She glanced around the room. "By the way, where is Mikhail?"

"He should be here soon."

There was another knock on the door. "Your highness, may I come in?" Vanessa and Muraku immediately knew that it was Mikhail.

"Come in."

Mikhail, a boy around their age with shoulder length grey hair and purple eyes, stepped inside and bowed. His standard bodyguard uniform consists of a white shirt with breastplate armor over it and brown pants. "I am sorry for being late, but the king asked me to inform you that he wishes to see you in fifteen minutes."

Muraku frowned. "Very well then." He continued to eat his breakfast silently while Mikhail took his place beside Vanessa and gave her a small smile.

Vanessa smiled back and slipped a cracker in his hands. "I was afraid you did not have breakfast." She whispered. Mikhail pocketed the cracker and mouthed a 'thank you'.

Although they were whispering and acting subtle, Muraku saw the whole thing from the corner of his eyes and smiled to himself. He knew that Vanessa had feelings for his bodyguard and best friend and Mikhail had the same feelings for her. "Vanessa, Mikhail, let's go."

Vanessa nodded and moved to pick up the tray when Muraku stopped her. "You may take it to the kitchen afterwards. Come with me to see my grandfather first."

Vanessa nodded. "Hai."

* * *

When Muraku entered the throne room with Vanessa and Mikhail behind him, he noticed that Jin was already there at the side of the room with Jessica and Yuuya behind him. He and Mikhail bowed while Vanessa curtsied.

"You called for me, grandfather?" Muraku asked, not looking up.

The king, Yoshimitsu Kaidou raised his hand and Muraku, Mikhail, and Vanessa straightened up. "Yes, indeed. This is a serious matter that I wish to talk with you and Jin."

Muraku nodded and stood beside Jin while Vanessa and Mikhail stood behind him.

"Jin, Muraku, come here."

Jin and Muraku complied and stood in front of their grandfather.

"As you know, the rebels, Aidara, are getting bolder with each passing day." Yoshimitsu started. "They are believed to be situated within the forest. But," His eyes narrowed into slits. "I have reason to believe that the members are actually living in Misora Town."

Jin and Muraku exchanged glances for a brief moment. Finally Jin spoke up. "If I may ask, what does this have to do with us?"

There was a moment of silence before Yoshimitsu spoke, "I wish for the both of you to investigate Misora Town and find the rebels by blending in with the commoners. Bring your bodyguards, personal servants and anyone whom you deem fit of this mission."

"Hai!"

The king waved his hand to dismiss them. Jin and Muraku bowed and left the room with their servants and bodyguards following closely behind.

* * *

"Muraku, is there anyone you wish to bring along?" Jin asked as soon as they exited the throne room. He had black hair with a white streak at the bangs and red eyes. He was wearing a similar outfit to Muraku except his vest is blue in color and his pants is grey color.

Muraku thought for a moment but Vanessa spoke up, "Hikari often visits Misora Town during her off days. She could give us an idea on the layout of the town."

"That's true." Yuuya, a boy with black hair tied into a ponytail and black eyes, mused. Like Mikhail, he was wearing the standard bodyguard uniform.

"She sounds like a good choice." Jin agreed.

"Also, I would like to bring Kageto with us. He can help keep our weapons when not needed to avoid suspicion." Muraku added.

Jin nodded. "Yuuya and I will have the servants prepare our horses and supplies. Jessica and Vanessa will find Hikari and inform her about our decision. Muraku, go with Mikhail and find Kageto."

"Hai."


	3. Chapter 2

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

Kageto, a boy around Muruka's age with violet red hair and black eyes, smiled with pride as he held up a sword. "Prince Muraku's sword in done."

"Good job, Kageto." His father praised him. "You have been improving a lot."

"Thank you, father." He bowed. "It is all thanks to what you have taught me that I am able to produce such result."

Kageto's father laughed gruffly. "One day you will be able to forge a weapon entirely by yourself. And when that day comes, no one will be more proud of you than me."

Kageto nodded eagerly. "Hai!"

Kageto's father suddenly looked up. "Oh, your highness, welcome." He bowed as Muraku entered the forge with Mikhail.

"Your highness." Kageto quickly bowed, following his father's suit.

Muraku nodded at them.

"Your highness, your sword as you have requested yesterday, is done." Kageto held out the sword to Muraku.

Muraku took the sword and examined it. "You have outdone yourself this time. It is perfect."

"Thank you for your compliment." Kageto politely bowed, but on the inside, he was jumping for joy.

"Kiba-san, if you do not mind, I wish to have a word with Kageto for a while." Muraku requested.

"Of course not, your highness." Kageto's father bowed as Muraku, Mikhail, and Kageto left the forge.

* * *

"Is there anything you need, Muraku?" Kageto asked when they stepped outside.

Muraku paused and turned to Kageto. "My grandfather had sent Jin and I to Misora Town to round up the rebels. We are allowed to bring anyone whom we deem fit for this mission. I would like you to follow us and help us keep our weapons when not in use to avoid suspicion."

"Let me guess, this is a 'blend in with commoners' type of mission."

Muraku nodded. Kageto thought for a moment and nodded. "Very well then. When will we leave?"

"As soon as possible."

Kageto nodded. "I need to inform my father first."

Muraku nodded. "We will meet at the stables. Bring all of our weapons."

"Hai!" Kageto bowed and went back to the forge.

* * *

"Hikari!" Jessica called the younger girl when she spotted her coming back from the market.

"Yes, Jessica?" Hikari asked as she went closer to the older girl.

Jessica smiled. "Good news. Jin and Muraku have been sent to Misora Town to round up the rebels! And they have decided that you can follow us as you often visit the town and should know the layout."

Hikari's face paled a bit but it was not noticeable to Jessica. "So, when do we leave?" She asked while trying to keep her voice steady.

"We are supposed to gather at the stables as soon as we are ready and we will set off. I have sent Vanessa to pack the things that she needs to bring. You should do the same."

Hikari lowered her head slightly. "Hai."

* * *

Once she was in her room, Hikari quickly scribbled something on a tiny piece of paper and went to the window and gave a low whistle. Instantly, a pigeon flew to her window and landed on the window still. She gave it some grain to eat and as it was eating she carefully tied the paper to its feet. "Give it to Ban."

The pigeon took off, leaving Hikari to quickly pack her things and rushed to the stables. Once she was there, she noticed that Vanessa and Kageto were already there and were packing up the weapons.

"Kageto, Vanessa!" She cried breathlessly as she ran over to them.

Vanessa looked up and waved. "Glad to see you here. Can you help us pack up these weapons?"

Hikari nodded and proceeded to sort out the weapons. "Why do Prince Jin and Prince Muraku need all these weapons?"

"If we are going to subdue the rebels, we need everything we have to defeat them." Kageto told her, not bothering to look up from packing up the last of the weapons.

Vanessa nodded in understanding. "Makes sense."

Hikari however kept quiet as she loaded up her horse with her things.

"Ah, your highness." Kageto quickly bowed while Vanessa and Hikari curtsied when Muraku and Jin entered the stables with Mikhail, Jessica and Yuuya. All of them were dressed in simple clothes that would not attract too much attention.

Jin nodded and went over to his horse. "Hikari once we leave the palace, I want you to be ahead and bring us to Misora Town."

"Hai." Hikari said softly and climbed up her horse and everyone followed her suit. Nobody except for Muraku noticed that she was rather subdued today.

* * *

The group travelled for an hour or so before they reached a fork in the path. Hikari automatically turned her horse to the path through the forest but the others were a bit hesitant to follow her.

"Hikari, shouldn't we stay on the road path?" Vanessa asked her.

Hikari shook her head. "Although the road path may be faster, it is more dangerous. There are many robbers along that path that would kill any travelers for their money and clothes. So, taking the forest path is safer."

"But, I heard that the rebels would rob anyone that goes into the forest." Yuuya stated.

"As far as I know, the only people who have been robbed are the nobles and those who stray off the forest path." Hikari explained.

Jin, who has been silent until now, turned his horse to the forest path. "Let's go. Our mission is to capture the rebels. There is a chance that we might find something if we go through here."

Understanding Jin's logic, the rest of the group turned their horses to the forest path.

"It's really creepy here." Jessica shuddered as they rode through the forest.

Yuuya nodded in agreement. "I am with Jessica on this."

"I don't find it creepy. In fact, I find it pleasant to ride here." Hikari said with an amiable smile. "With the wind blowing through the trees and the sound of insects buzzing around, you have to enjoy the beauty of nature."

"Only you would think of that." Kageto muttered.

"Also, this is not considered creepy." Hikari continued. "If you travel through here at night, you will have to deal with the night predators especially bears. And, it would be too dark to see where you are going. So, one can get lost easily."

Jessica gulped a bit. "On second thought, the scenery is not so bad."

Hikari gave a small laugh. "I figured so." She had her horse to go further ahead of the group. Only Muraku bothered to catch up with her.

"You have been very quiet today." Muraku said softly. "Is there anything bothering you?"

Caught off guard by Muraku's question, Hikari quickly shook her head. "N-No. There is nothing that is bothering me at the moment."

Muraku looked at her closely. "Are you sure?"

Hikari quickly nodded. "Yes." She pulled her horse further ahead to stop Muraku from asking her anymore questions. Muraku frowned as he could tell that Hikari was lying.

'Something is definately bothering her.' He silently thought. 'But what?'


	4. Chapter 3

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

In another part of the forest, two palace guards were patrolling the area on their horses, oblivious to the ropes hanging from the trees and were being lowered.

"Hey, Spud, it is just me, or do I having a feeling that we are being watched." The smaller one stated nervously.

The larger one, Spud, shook his head. "Just you, Midge."

"But, doesn't the forest spook you?" Midge kept on turning his head around. "There are rumours that many nobles were robbed within this forest."

Spud sighed. "Those rumours are not necessarily true."

"But then..."

Neither of them noticed two boys clad in black lowering themselves down the ropes and holding large sticks.

"Midge, listen," Spud continued. "If there were really robbers within this forest, shouldn't we be knocked out by now?"

As soon as those words left his mouth, the boys swung down their sticks on the back of the guards' heads, knocking them out.

"It worked!" The boy with red hair and purple eyes exclaimed.

"Shh!" The boy with blond hair and looks very like Hikari shushed his companion. "Don't wake them up."

"Good job, Arata, Hikaru." Another boy, this time with brown hair and green eyes also clad in black, called as he lowered himself down from the tree by the ropes.

"Let's see what we got here." Arata gently turned the two unconscious guards around to have a better look at them. "Palace guards with horses patrolling the area. I don't think they have anything valuable except for their weapons and horses."

Hikaru nodded. "Can you check their pockets, Haruki?"

Haruki complied and did so, coming up with five silver coins.

"I guess that will do along with their weapons. Hikaru, give me a hand." Arata requested as he stripped Spud of his weapons. Hikaru did the same for Midge.

"Arata, Hikaru, ride the horses back to base. I'll follow from the tree bridges." Haruki instructed.

"Ah!"

* * *

Moments later, the guards woke up.

"Spud! Our weapons and horses! They're gone!" Midge shrieked.

It took Spud a moment to realize that Midge was right. "We've been robbed!"

* * *

"We're back!" Arata yelled from his horse as they got closer to a clearing. At first glance, there might not be anything, but once you look up, you can see a town on trees. Over time, Aidara's members had managed to build their homes on the tree tops and bridges connecting the houses and all around to forest. Even if one is staying in one of the nearby towns, he could come here to stay for meetings. Not too far from the clearing is a hidden stable to keep the horses and a cave used as a place for forging weapons.

"Arata, Hikaru." Ami, a late teen with lavender hair just past her shoulder and violet eyes, greeted the two boys as she emerged from the trunk which was hollowed out and had staircases built in it. "Welcome back."

She reached out and petted the two horses they stole. "Who did you rob this time?"

"Two palace guards. They had two swords, one dagger and five silver coins to offer." Hikaru rattled off.

Ami nodded and wrote everything done in a book she kept somewhere around her. "Where is Haruki?"

"On the way. He followed us from the tree bridges."

Ami nodded and closed her book. "Bring the horses to the stables. Once Haruki returns, report to Ban-kun."

"Hai."

* * *

"Yo, you three." Gouda, a young man with dark teal eyes and hair, greeted them as they pass his house on the way to see Ban. "Heard that you took out two palace guards. I wish I was there to see their faces when you knocked them out."

Arata grinned. "It is too easy to imagine. They are just like the other nobles we robbed."

Gouda laughed. "Even so, I'll try to keep an eye out for more palace guards when I'm hunting."

"I doubt that you won't." Haruki remarked. "If they believe that Aidara is capable of taking out two palace guards, they would probably strengthen their numbers."

Gouda laughed again. "True, but then, we are not afraid of them."

* * *

"Arata, Haruki, Hikaru, good job on getting the weapons today." Ban, a late teen with curly brown hair and hazel eyes, said with the three teens lined up in front of him. "However," He became serious. "If they are starting to patrol the grounds, it means that they are beginning to suspect that our base is nearby."

"That is probably a bit impossible as we found them about a mile from the base." Haruki pointed out.

Ban nodded. "Yes, but sooner or later, they will be patrolling deeper into the forest. I have a feeling that we will be found out soon."

"Then, shouldn't we move our base?" Hikaru enquired worriedly.

Ban thought for a moment and shook his head. "To be honest, I have grown fond of our base. It is also our home, and I do not wish to abandon it."

Arata's eyes suddenly brightened up. "I have an idea. Why don't we set up false clues to lure them away? We can setup false bases all over the forest away from the base. That way, the guards would be sent on a wild goose chase."

Ban thought for a moment. "That could work. I'll talk to Ami and Kazu about it, but we need all of the member's approval before we can proceed. For now, go back to your rooms and rest."

"Hai."

But before they could leave the room, a pigeon flew inside the room and landed in front of Ban. Ban frowned as he spotted the piece of paper tied to its feet.

"Isn't that Hikari's messenger pigeon?" Arata wondered as he glanced at his friend who turned slightly pale. The only time Hikari would use a messenger pigeon is when she is in trouble or there is urgent news.

Ban carefully took the paper off the pigeon's feet and read it. As he read it, his face became more serious. "Call Ami and Kazu here now!"

"Hai!" The boys scattered out to find Ami and Kazu. In a short time, they regrouped in Ban's room as he continued to examine the paper.

"Ban, what's wrong?" Kazu, a teen with brown dreadlocks and cerulean eyes, demanded.

Ban did not reply but read out the writing on the paper. "Kaidou has sent the princes to Misora Town to round up the rebels. Do not underestimate them. I will be with them when they arrive." Ban sighed as he lowered the paper. "Send messenger pigeons to all the members and tell them not to come to the base during the duration of the princes' stays. If they have anything they need to tell us, send a messenger pigeon."

"Understood!" Ami and Kazu rushed out of the room to carry out Ban's orders.

"Ban-san, what about us?" Hikaru enquired.

Ban placed the paper on his desk and fed the pigeon some grain. "For now, continue with your missions. When Hikari comes to Misora Town, none of you are allowed to have any contact with her."

"...Hai."

Arata tried to think of a way to cheer his friend up but could not think of anything. Finally, he turned to Haruki who sighed and nodded. "Hikaru, why don't you bring the weapons that we stole today to Sakuya."

Hikaru nodded. "Hai."

As he tugged out of the room, Haruki turned to Arata. "Let him be for now. He'll cheer up once he sees that Hikari is fine."

Arata nodded in agreement. "Ah."


	5. Chapter 4

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

"Yo!" Arata greeted as he entered the forging cave, or 'weapon cave' like he likes to call it. "Sakuya, did Hikaru bring our latest booty?"

Sakuya, a boy around Arata's age with bobbed dark green hair and beady black eyes, looked up from the scroll he was looking at. "Ah, Arata, yup, he did. But then," He folded up the scroll. "He seems to be a bit unhappy for some reason."

Arata proceeded to give the blacksmith a long explanation. "...So you see, Ban-nii-san had forbidden the three of us from having any contact with her."

Sakuya nodded in understanding. "That's understandable. Hikaru has not seen Hikari for a long time, and the fact that Hikari might be found out as a rebel if she stays here too long would definitely make anyone worry."

Arata folded his arms. "That aside, what do you make of the weapons that we stole?"

Sakuya grinned. "This is better than I expected! The quality and design surpasses all weapons that you've brought in before."

"No surprise there since it came from the palace." Arata snorted. "They probably squeezed out the money of an entire town in order to make this."

Sakuya's face fell. "You have a point." It was no secret that Arata hated the current king and all things and people that are from the palace. The only exception was Hikari as she was working undercover there.

"Ma," Arata picked up one of the swords. "I think we can just get rid of the Kaidou Embalm and replace it with the Aradia Embalm. That way we can keep the quality."

Sakuya nodded and picked up another sword. "I think I would change the shape and design a bit so that it would not be easily connected to the palace."

Arata picked up the dagger and froze. The dagger had several precious gems on the handle and the handle was clearly made of sliver. Due to the rush in getting away, he did not have a chance to take a good at what they stole. But now that he could see it clearly, he half wished that he had seen it earlier and stabbed the guard. 'The people are slaving themselves just so that they can buy a small loaf of bun...But these guards are having it easy and even decorate their weapons fancily just to show off!'

In a fit of anger, he stabbed the dagger into the worktable, startling Sakuya.

"Arata?" Sakuya nervously asked, afraid of the furry in the red hair's eyes.

Arata blinked and let go of the handle of the dagger. "Oh, sorry. I guess I got a bit carried away."

Sakuya took the dagger and noticed why Arata was so angry. He sighed. "Arata, I'm just as upset as you are because of how Kaidou treats the people, but please don't get angry over this. We will take back the kingdom and restore the order that the kingdom once had."

"It should be our father that is sitting on that throne, not Kaidou!" Arata yelled. "And now he is planning to install his grandson on the throne when it should be Ban-nii-san!"

Unbeknown to them, Ban was outside the cave and listening to every word.

"It's just not fair!" Tears were streaming out of Arata's eyes now. Sakuya was slightly shock at this outburst but went to comfort his friend nevertheless.

"Arata." Sakuya patted the red hair's shoulder. "Everything will be fine once we install Ban as king. I'm sure that he will bring back the justice and fairness that your father used on the kingdom."

Arata paused and slowly nodded. "You are right. We have to win this battle...we just have to."

After a while, Arata seem to have calmed down. "I'm sorry, Sakuya if I had scared you." He apologised as he wiped his eyes.

Sakuya shook his head. "It's fine. You needed to let it all out every once in a while. It would do you no good if you kept it bottled up."

Arata nodded. "Thank you." He picked up the dagger. "I think we can take out the gems and the handle and sell them to Odela's shops. Then, I'll talk to Ban about giving the money to Takeru to help Misora Town's people."

Sakuya nodded. "Sure."

* * *

"How much longer until we reach Misora Town?" Jin asked Hikari. They have been travelling for hours now and the sun was already setting.

Hikari looked ahead and smiled. "Misora Town is just across this slope. We should reach the gates in a few minutes." She pointed at the slope in front of her. "If we go straight from the gates, we should reach the inn in five minutes from there."

"Good, because I do not want to see another tree from the forest." Jessica muttered to Yuuya who sweatdropped.

Hikari pretended that she did not hear it, but inwardly she sighed. People like Jessica have never experienced a life in the forest or outside their comfort zone. She herself had experienced a hard life in the forest with her brother and friends before she was sent to the palace to work. Sure, working in the palace is hard, but she gets three meals a day and a roof over her head. It made her feel so guilty that she at least have some luxury while people outside the palace have to work day and night to buy one meal.

"I find the forest pleasant." Muraku remarked as he took in the last of the forest. "There is a calming atmosphere about it."

Hikari grinned. "You should visit Misora Town after you have completed your mission more often. Although the town is a bit poorer than most of the towns around the palace, there is something about it that stands out from the others."

Muraku smiled back. "I will try."

Vanessa noticed how friendly Muraku was with Hikari and held back a chuckle. "Mikhail, do you think Muraku is surprisingly friendly to Hikari?" She whispered to her companion.

Mikhail studied them for a moment and nodded. "Why do you think Muraku is like that to her?"

The corners of Vanessa's lips curved up slightly. "I think it is because..."

"Vanessa, Mikhail, what are you talking about?" Kageto asked from behind them, making them jerk apart.

"N-N-Nothing." Vanessa called back nervously.

Kageto blinked. "Ok..."

* * *

"Here we are, Misora Town." Hikari gestured to the gates in front of the group as she rode on ahead. "If you ride further ahead, you can easily find the Snoozy Inn."

Muraku raised an eyebrow. "You are not coming with us?"

Hikari shook her head. "I will be staying with a friend of mine near the town square. Too many people know me here and I do not have an excuse to stay in the inn."

Jin nodded. "We will meet up at the town square tomorrow at noon."

Hikari nodded and waved at them. "Good night."

Hikari continued to ride further into town, stopping in front of the blacksmith shop. She gently tapped on the door three times in a rapid session.

"Who's there?"

"It's me, Hikari." Hikari answered softly.

There was a pause and the door opened and a boy with dark blond hair and purple eyes stepped out.

Hikari smiled at the boy in front of her. "It has been a long time, Takeru."


	6. Chapter 5

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

The boy, Takeru grinned and hugged Hikari briefly. "Hikari! Come in." He pulled Hikari inside the blacksmith shop and closed the door behind her. "I heard that the princes are in town."

Hikari nodded solemnly. "I see that you have gotten the news. Yes, they are here to round the rebels up. Kaidou is closing on to us."

Takeru frowned. "Does this mean that he figured out that Misora Town is where most of the rebels live?"

"By the looks of it, yes." She glanced around the room. "Don't you have any customers at this time of the day?"

Takeru shook his head. "New law. Blacksmiths are not allowed to sharpen or forge any weapons or tools as soon as the sun sets."

"But night time is the only time farmers can bring their tools here to be sharpened." Hikari protested. "The mayor has gone too far."

"By the looks of it, he meant it as a way to curb my business as he still mad that I saved Uchira-san from being taken to prison by paying her debts." Takeru said mildly.

Hikari scoffed and tossed her head. "These people...I have grown tired of them. Working with them is torture."

Takeru shrugged. "Ma, anyway, I have something to show you." He gestured her to follow him to the backroom where he keeps all his things.

"You should really tidy this place up a bit." Hikari remarked as they walked past another crate that was filled to the brim with the failed weapons that Takeru failed to make.

Takeru gave her a nervous chuckle. "I would clean this room up, but Sis likes it this way."

Hikari sighed. "How is life like without your older sibling?"

"A bit hard. But at least she doesn't get into trouble now than she did before."

Hikari smiled cheerily. "Glad to hear that."

"Ah, here it is." Takeru held up a six inch long dagger with Aradia's Embalm on the silver handle. "Ban asked me to give this for you since you do not really have a weapon."

Hikari gasped and took it. "It's beautiful, but where did you get the materials to make it?"

"Oh, we found the dagger in the loot sometime ago and Hikaru wanted to give it to you for protection and Ban agreed. I did some changes so that the quality is slightly different." Takeru grinned mischievously. "Heard that they got it from a noble who screamed his head off when he saw Gouda dressed like a bear."

Hikari laughed. "How I wish that I was with them and not at the palace. I have to deal with Kyousuke all the time whenever he tries to flirt with me. Not to mention, the cook is rather awful. She often gives me the most difficult and dirtiest chores."

Takeru smiled sympathetically at her and he returned some scrolls into the cupboard. "Must be bad."

Hikari sighed and shook her head. "The one thing I wish during my stay is that Muraku and Jin can come to understand the condition of the people of Aradia." A distant look appeared in her eyes. "Maybe they would even understand why we are rebelling."

Takeru nearly dropped the scroll he was holding and turned around sharply. "You know that it would not happen." He said sharply. Like many members of Aidara, he harboured a strong hatred for the current royal family. "They are the princes, grandsons of Yoshimitsu Kaidou! They would definitely support him!" He softened when he saw Hikari's saddened face. "Hikari, you know this better than I do. Kaidou killed your parents and the king and queen himself. How can his grandsons not be like him?"

"Because they are different. I can tell." Hikari whispered to herself.

"Ma, it's getting late." Takeru said as he looked out the window. "You can sleep in Sis' room like usual. She's not going to be back home for a while."

Hikari nodded. "Good night."

* * *

Ban was in deep thought as he sat on his desk with his hands supporting his head.

"Ban, you are still awake?" Kazu asked from the door. He was rather concern for his friend since he had been staying up late for the past few days.

"Ah, Kazu." Ban looked up and greeted him. "I was thinking of something."

Kazu folded his arms. "What is it?"

Ban stared ahead with a blank look. "I was thinking of letting Hana to get closer to the princes and send them on a wild goose chase." Kazu nodded. Hana was one of the best actresses in the group. She would have no problems with that. But what Ban said next mad Kazu question his best friend's sanity.

"Then, Arata and I will try to befriend them."

Kazu's mouth dropped wide open. "Ban, are you out of your mind?!"

Ban calmly shook his head. "No." He said firmly. "One thing I am hoping to avoid in our fight is a full scale war. We are clearly out-numbered and many of our members are teenagers. By befriend the princes, hopefully they can see clearly the condition of the people and understand what a tyrant Kaidou is. Hopefully we can get their support."

Kazu was still doubtful about this. "I don't know Ban...what if they find out? Both you and Arata could be killed."

Ban slowly nodded. "I know. That's why I need you to protect Arata no matter what happens. If I die, he will ascend the throne."

"Ban..." Kazu looked at his friend sadly. "At least talk to Ami about this." He begged, hoping to change his best friend's mind. "There's got to be another way to do it without you or Arata getting involved."

Ban sighed. "Kazu, if I don't do this, Arata would definitely try to attack the princes and there will be heavy casualties. I am doing this to teach him an important lesson."

Kazu sighed. "I guess I would not be able to change your mind. So," He patted Ban's shoulder. "I'll support you all the way."

"Kazu..."

"Me too."

The two men looked at the door and saw Ami standing there, clearly having heard the entire conversation. "I think that the plan is reckless and dangerous. But if you really want to do it, then I will support you the whole way."

"Ami...Kazu..." Ban smiled. "You are the best friends a person could ask for."

Kazu grinned but it dropped when he thought of something. "Do you think that Arata would even go with the plan?"

Ban thought for a moment and shrugged. "I'll handle it. Don't worry."

Ami and Kazu exchanged glances. This should be interesting.

* * *

A messenger pigeon flew towards a small cottage at the edge of the woods and landed on the window still of one of the windows. A lady around Ban's age with waist length black hair and brown eyes went to it and gave it some grain. As it ate, she took the paper that was tied to its leg and read it.

An amused smile crept on her face as she finished reading it. 'This should be interesting.'

She threw the paper into the fire and wrote something of a fresh piece of paper and tied it to the pigeon's leg. The pigeon looked up and flew back to the woods.


	7. Chapter 6

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

"Ohayo, Hikari." Takeru greeted when Hikari came down from her room. Hikari nodded at him. "Is there any news from Ban?"

Takeru grew serious and nodded. "Ah, your messenger pigeon came by earlier with a note." He dug into his pocket and took out a piece of paper. "Here."

Hikari took the paper and read it. Her face became confuse. "Lead them to Hana?"

Takeru glanced over her shoulder to read the message and grinned. "I bet they are planning on using Hana's acting skills on the princes."

Hikari read the note again and nodded. "I will try to lead them to her when I see them at noon." She folded the note up and tossed it into the fire.

Takeru nodded. "Yosh, here." He gave her a plate of eggs and a cup of milk. "You need to have breakfast first."

Hikari took the plate and cup. "Thank you Takeru. But what about you?"

Takeru grinned. "Don't worry about me. I had my share earlier." If Hikari found out that his share was only half of what she was having, she would definitely make him take part of her share.

* * *

Hikari paused at the door. "Takeru, I am leaving now." Now, she was wearing a simple white and blue dress with a dark blue cloak on her shoulders. Her hair was tied up into a ponytail instead of her usual bun.

Takeru looked up from the weapon he was sharpening. "Ah. Be careful, Hikaru would never forgive me if anything happens to you."

Hikari gave him a small chuckle. "I doubt that anything would happen to me. The princes need me as a guide, so they cannot let anything happen to me."

* * *

Hikari stepped into the square and silently walked to the old fountain in the centre. No one gave her much thought as they were already familiar with her. Soon, she spotted Jin and the rest at the corner of one to the buildings. They were wearing simple clothes and cloaks like her.

"Am I late?" Hikari asked as she approached them.

Jin shook his head. "We came here early. Hikari, where do you suggest we start?"

Hikari pretended to think for a moment. "We could try to find more information on the rebels who are robbing the nobles on the road at the mayor's office. From what I heard, they keep all of the records of the robberies in there. Also, there is this person who can help us."

Everyone looked at her curiously.

"Who is this person?" Muraku asked.

Hikari looked around and lead them to the back of the building. Once she was sure that no one was around, she leaned in and whispered. "This person is Hana Kayagi, the local teacher for Misora Town. But, she likes to go hunting in the forest when she is not teaching. So, she should know more about the forest than me."

"But, what is with the secrecy?" Mikhail asked.

Hikari sighed. "Actually, hunting is illegal here in Misora Town. Only very few people know that Hana is a hunter."

Jessica's mouth dropped open. "She dares to defile the law?"

Hikari shrugged. "I heard that she doesn't earn much by teaching alone. Like many citizens of Aradia, she has to get another source of income in order to survive even if it means breaking the law. It is not like the palace where one can easily get three meals a day."

For some reason, Jin and Muraku could not help but feel that this was directed at them. Even though Hikari had not said it in a direct manner, it was clear that she disliked the fact that the people of the town were suffering to earn a meal while she , like the other servants in the palace and them had a better life than them.

"Hikari, how sure are you that she is trustworthy?" Yuuya asked. "For all we know, she might be part of the rebels."

Hikari thought for a moment. Finally she spoke. "I will leave that for you to judge. I only met her twice, so I do not know much about her except for the facts that I told you."

"Jin, what should we do?" Muraku asked.

Jin closed his eyes in deep thought for a moment. "Here is what we should do. Yuuya, Hikari and I will see Hana Kayagi; Muraku, bring Mikhail and Jessica to the mayor's office and find any information that may help us. Kageto, I want you and Vanessa to ask around about the rebels and be on the lookout for anything suspicious."

"Hai!"

* * *

"So this is the place?" Yuuya wondered as they stood in front of a simple cottage at the edge of the forest.

Hikari nodded. "Yes it is." Before Jin could open his mouth, Hikari knocked on the door. "Hana, it is Hikari from Misora Town."

Jin and Yuuya gave her a questioning look but the door opened, not giving them a chance to question Hikari on her actions.

A young lady around Jin and Yuuya's age with waist length jet black hair and soft brown eyes stood at the door. She was wearing a long simple green dress and a brown hair band on her head. Placing a hand on her waist, she raised an eyebrow. "Is there anything you need?"

"We came here to ask you a favour." Jin said, getting straight to the point.

Hana eyed them for a moment and opened the door a bit wider. "Why don't you come in first, then we can talk."

Jin and Yuuya exchanged glances and entered the cottage with Hikari following them.

* * *

"I would have served you tea, but I am afraid I am out of tea leaves at the moment." Hana told them as she led them inside.

Jin shook his head. "We will only be here for a moment and will not take up too much of your time."

"So, what is this favour you want from me?" Hana asked.

"Hana, you are a hunter, right?" Yuuya asked, still not believing what Hikari had told them.

Hana glanced and him sharply before shifting her gaze to Jin. "And what about it?" She asked carefully.

"We are sent here by someone to find as much information as possible about Aidara." Jin explained vaguely.

Hana eyed them suspiciously. "And?"

"We are hoping you would help us track them down with your knowledge of the forest." Yuuya continued.

Hana still did not seem convinced. "How can I be sure that you will not betray me to the mayor when you have what you want?"

"Hana, I can reassure you that they are trustworthy and will not betray you to the mayor." Hikari spoke up.

Hana looked her then at Jin and Yuuya. "Very well then. I will help you in your quest. But only because I trust Hikari's judgement."

Jin smiled. "Thank you. If it is fine with you, I would like to have a headstart and start this evening."

Hana shrugged. "I have no problems with it as it is my usual hunting time. If you want to know, I teach in the mornings until noon. If you want, we can try at dawn."

Jin thought for a moment and nodded. "I will see you this evening. Can I meet you at the entrance of the forest?"

Hana nodded. "Sure."

* * *

After leaving Hana's house Yuuya finally spoke up. "Jin, are you going alone this time?"

Jin nodded. "Ah. There is no need to have many people in the forest. In fact, I would like to keep an eye on Hana myself. She seems suspicious in a way."

Hikari wrinkles her brows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I do not know, but something tells me that she knew that we were coming and orchestrated the whole scenario." Jin explained.

Yuuua frowned. "Does that make the whole situation more dangerous? Then, maybe you should not go alone with her."

Hikari frowned when Yuuya said that. "I am with Yuuya on this. You should probably have someone to go with you."

Jin shook his head. "Do not worry about me. I will bring my sword and dagger with me."

Yuuya and Hikari were still a bit uncertain but knew that they would not be able to change Jin's mind. Therefore they let the matter slid for now.


	8. Chapter 7

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

**I may have forgotten to mention their ages but I am mainly following WARS' ages.**

* * *

Meanwhile, Jessica, Mikhail and Muraku were not having much luck at the mayor's office.

"There isn't anything that can help us here." Jessica sighed as she put down a scroll.

Mikhail nodded in agreement. "The attacks are too similar. Either the victims are knocked out from the back or they were spooked by a bear or another predator before they were knocked out from behind. All the attacks occurred in between noon to five o'clock in the evening."

Muraku frowned as he picked up a scroll that was in the corner. "Didn't Hikari mention that the bears in this area are active only at night?"

Mikhail and Jessica looked up with frowns on their faces too, remembering that Hikari said that bears were night predators.

"Could she have mistaken?" Jessica wondered.

Muraku ignored her and continued to read the scroll. He looked up when someone entered the office.

"Your Highness." The man bowed and smirked at Muraku. Muraku immediately decided that he did not like him because of the cruel look in his eyes and the cunning smirk on his face.

Nevertheless, he nodded in acknowledgement. "You are the mayor of Misora Town if I am not mistaken."

The man nodded. "Yes." He drawled. "My name is Bishop. If you need anything, I am obliged to provide my assistance where ever needed."

Muraku nodded. "Can you tell me more about the robberies?"

Bishop's smirk dropped a bit. "As what you have read, Aidara attacks their victims from behind, making it entirely impossible to see them. But," He thought for a moment. "From what I gathered, they never attack any peasants, famers or random travellers. They only picked the nobles and anyone who is carrying a large amount of gold and silver."

Mikhail frowned. "That is pretty obvious."

Bishop glared at him. "I am not done yet." He said sharply. "As I was saying, they picked the nobles and anyone who is carrying a large sum of money. But here is the catch, they only take the weapons, sometimes their horses, and only a quarter of what money their victims are carrying."

Muraku became interested in that. "They are only interested in the weapons?"

Bishop nodded. "Yes. Also, there is one more incident that I have yet to record down. It happened just yesterday."

"What happened?" Jessica asked impatiently.

"Two palace guards were on patrol five miles north of the town." Bishop began. "They claimed that they were knocked out from behind and have absolutely no recollection of what happen other than their weapons were taken along with their horses."

* * *

A few minutes later, they left the office with Bishop's words in their minds.

"What should we do now, Muraku?" Mikhail asked.

Muraku closed his eyes for a moment. "We should find Kageto and Vanessa. Hopefully they were more successful than we were."

"Hai." Mikhail and Jessica drew up their hoods and followed Muraku as he weaved his way through the people in the market. Suddenly, a boy accidentally bumped into him, causing the both of them to fall down.

"Ah!" The boy who bumped into Muraku quickly got up and bowed. "I'm sorry! I should be watching where I am going."

Muraku smiled and took Mikhail's hand that was offered and got up. "It is fine. I should have been more careful."

The boy sighed in relief. "That's good. Oh, I'm Takeru, the local blacksmith."

Muraku thought for a while whether he should give his name to a total stranger, but he figured that as long as he did not mention his title or family name, it should be fine. "Muraku."

Takeru grinned. "Nice to meet you. I should get going now. I still have some work to do."

Muraku smiled back. "Same here."

Takeru waved and went on his way. "Ja ne."

"Muraku, are you sure that it is a good idea to give your name to a stranger?" Mikhail asked in a low voice as soon as he was sure that Takeru was out of sight.

Muraku nodded. "As long as I do not give out my surname or title, it should be fine."

"I think so too." Jessica placed a hand on Mikhail's shoulder. "Trust me, there is no way one can easily put two and two together to find out that Muraku is you-know-who."

Mikhail still looked a bit uncertain, but nodded his head. "If you say so. Should we continue finding Vanessa and Kageto?"

Muraku and Jessica nodded and scanned the crowd of people. Soon enough, Jessica spotted them. "There they are." She pointed at the two of them who were coming over to them.

"Muraku, Mikhail!" Vanessa waved and ran over followed by Kageto. "Any luck?"

Muraku shook his head. "There is not much information given. Aidara is very careful to cover its tracks. Did you find anything?"

Kageto shook his head. "There is not much that we could find. The town people are not too concern about the robberies because they feel that it is not an important matter."

"Why so?" Jessica wondered.

Muraku shut his eyes for a moment. "I think we should ask Hikari about this. And it is about time we went back to the fountain."

The others nodded in agreement. "Hai."

* * *

"There they are." Mikhail pointed at Jin and Yuuya who were already waiting there.

Jin spotted them and waved them over. "Did you manage to find anything?"

Muraku shook his head. "We did not find much. Aidara was too good in covering up their tracks."

Jin frowned. "Souka."

"Um, pardon for interrupting, but where is Hikari?" Jessica politely interrupted.

"Oh, she offered to buy some lunch for us. She should be back in a few minutes." Yuuya answered.

Jessica sighed. "Hopefully it is not as bad as the inn's food. I don't understand how they can just charge a lot of money for our stay and provide us with terrible food."

"It is really typical of them." Hikari said as she approached them with two heavy baskets. "They do not have any motivation to do more than what you pay them for."

"Ah, Hikari." Muraku took one of the baskets. "Thank you for buying lunch for us."

"My pleasure." Hikari smiled. "There is a meadow at the outskirts of town. We can eat there without having to worry about anyone hearing us."

Jin smiled and nodded. "Please lead the way."

* * *

"Hikari, I have to admit. The food is good!" Vanessa exclaimed as she ate a slice of bread and cold ham.

Hikari grinned. "I take it that you have never tried the food from town, haven't you?"

Vanessa shook her head. "No, I grew up in the palace most of my life and even the food there cannot compare to this."

Mikhail nodded in agreement. "Ah."

"So Jin, how did your meeting with Hana Kayagi go?" Muraku asked his brother.

Jin thought for a moment. "It went well. She agreed to help us and I am meeting her later in the evening for a head start."

"...Souka." Muraku looked at his brother closely. "Is there something bothering you about her?"

Jin kept quiet and shook his head. "No, there is nothing."

Yuuya and Hikari exchanged glances but did not mention anything about Jin's suspicions. Muraku noticed this and frowned. He guessed that his brother was lying and Yuuya and Hikari's actions confirmed it.

"We did not have much luck as you did." Jessica spoke up. "Aidara was very careful not to give out many details when they rob a person. All the victims claim that they were knocked out from the back and sometimes spooked by a predator like bears before they were knocked out."

"Huh?" Hikari tilted her head in confusion. "Bears are nocturnal predators. They should not be out in the forest in the day time."

Jessica raised an eyebrow. "Is it possible that some of them are not nocturnal?"

Hikari thought for a moment. "To be honest, I am not entirely sure."

Mikhail frowned. "Could Aidara have some trick up their sleeves to get the predators to scare their victims?"

"I think the real question is why they are using predators to spook their victims before they knock them out." Jin suddenly spoke up.

"Maybe it is because it is for their amusement or probably to humiliate them." Hikari said off handily. "That's what I think."

Everyone looked at her with an incredulous look.

"Hikari, I think that is a little too farfetched." Mikhail finally said.

Hikari shrugged. "I don't think so." She got up and brushed off her skirt. "I have some errands to do, so I have to go now. I'll see all of you tomorrow." She took her baskets and walked off.

Muraku stared at her departing figure for a moment and turned to Jin. "There is one more thing. When Aidara robs a person, they only take the weapons, horses and a quarter of the money they are carrying."

Jin raised an eyebrow at that. "Why would they be more interested in the weapons than the money?"

"Sa, but then, I think we should focus our efforts on the forest." Vanessa remarked. "No one in town seems interested in the robberies and there is nothing suspicious to report."

Jin nodded. "Souka." He got up and walked to the direction of the forest entrance. "Muraku, I need you to take over for a while. I have to go now."

Muraku nodded. "Take care."

"Ah."

When he was sure that Jin was out of sight, Yuuya sighed. "I am really worried about him. I think he is somewhat attracted to Hana."

Everyone stared at him curiously.

"What do you mean?" Kageto asked, voicing out everyone's thoughts.

Yuuya squirmed at bit under their gaze. "What I mean is I saw the way he looked at her. Although he had his guard up and is focusing on his task, I cannot help but notice that he was attracted to her in some way."

"Are you sure?" Vanessa carefully asked. "Because it could be anything."

Yuuya shook his head. "Although I am not entirely sure, he seems pretty into her. But," Yuuya shrugged. "He does have his suspicions about her."

Muraku kept quiet for a moment and got up. "Let's go. We have done enough today. We should get some rest now."

Everyone nodded and packed the remaining food and got up. "Hai."

* * *

***Pleading Eyes* Please review and tell me how I can improve it!**


	9. Chapter 8

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

Hikari looked over her shoulder once again to make sure that no one was following her. Soon enough, she reached Hana's cottage.

She tapped the door softly. "Hana, its Hikari."

The door opened slightly and she slipped inside.

"Hikari, were you followed?" Hana immediately asked as Hikari closed the door behind her.

Hikari shook her head. "No, the others should be returning from the meadow by now. So they should not know that I was coming here."

Hana nodded in relief. "Good." She peaked out of her window. "I can't believe Ban wants me to fool them. I might be able to fool Yuuya, but I think it would be tricky to do so for Jin."

Hikari nodded worriedly. "He was suspicious of you. He thinks that you orchestrated the whole situation, which is actually what you did."

Hana smiled grimly. "Looks like I have to be more careful of him. Did he suggest that we meet this evening to spy on me?"

Hikari thought for a moment and shook her head. "I don't know, but please keep your guard up."

Hana patted the younger girl's shoulder reassuringly. "I will. Take care of yourself."

Hikari nodded. "Will do." She glanced out the window. "Shouldn't you be getting ready to 'lead' Jin around the forest?"

Hana smirked. "I can be ready in five minutes. You should be heading back to Takeru's now."

Hikari hesitated but nodded. "Alright. But just so you know," She turned to the door. "I think Jin likes you."

Hana's mouth dropped open, but before she could ask Hikari what did she meant, the girl had left. Sinking into a chair, Hana groaned and rubbed her eyes. She certainly was not expecting this. Jin likes her…that is so not what she needs.

"I might as well get ready and prove her wrong." Hana muttered to herself and went to her room.

* * *

A few minutes later, Hana was waiting at the forest entrance in a tree in case someone came by and saw her in her hunting attire which consist of a brown top with a black scarf, a pair of brown pants and black calf-length boots. A bow and a quiver full of arrows were slung across her shoulder which she retrieved from their hiding place. She patted her pouch strapped on her belt to check if she had everything she needed and smirk. All she needs to do now is to wait.

"Hana!"

She jerked up and glanced down to see Jin looking around to find her. Grabbing a branch, she swung down and landed behind Jin, making him turn around sharply, his hand automatically when to the hilt of his sword. But he relaxed a bit when he saw that it was Hana.

Hana smirked and placed a hand on her hip. "Did I scare you?"

Jin smirked back. "You only startled me into thinking that I was going to be robbed."

She shrugged and gestured to the tree. "I have to keep myself out of sight or people will know that I am a hunter."

Jin nodded in understanding. "Shall we start?"

Hana nodded and lead him to the side of the path. "Oh, and just so that you know, your sword might not do much good to you if you see your prey, they are too smart to know that they should avoid it."

Jin paused to figure out what she meant by that but she was already ahead of him and slipping through the trees. He decided to let the matter slid for now and catch up with her.

* * *

After a while of trekking through the forest, Hana paused and slipped an arrow out and readied her bow. "Keep quiet. Cougar on the right."

Jin subconsciously craned his head to the right but saw nothing. He frowned but said nothing. Hana was more experienced in this and probably sensed something he did not. Slowly, Hana raised her bow and scanned the area.

"Hana, are you sure that there is a cougar?" Jin whispered softly to her. Hana glared at him but kept quiet. A second later, a large tawny cougar jumped out of nowhere at Jin. Hana reacted immediately by shovelling him away just as the cougar brought up its paw and slashed at her arm.

Ignoring the pain in her arm, she readied her arrow and shot at it. The arrow pierced through its eye and it fell on a pile of dead leaves. Not missing a beat, Hana pulled out her knife from her pouch and stabbed its heart to ensure that it was dead.

Letting out a shaky breath, Hana stepped away from the corpse and stumbled into Jin who caught her.

"Are you alright?" Jin asked concernedly. He then noticed the blood pouring out from the wound on her arm and gently settled her down. "You are bleeding."

Hana looked at her arm and took out a leather water pouch and poured its contents on the fresh wound. "It's fine. Hunters normally would get injured in 9 out of 10 of their hunts." She took off her scarf and pressed it on the wound. "I'm sorry if I shovelled you too hard, but the cougar knew that you were not armed, that's why it chose to attack you first."

Jin shook his head. "I am fine." He helped her up and wrapped the scarf on her wound. "Can you continue?"

Hana nodded and retrieved the arrow. "Yeah, but we better stick closer to the path. The animals know better than to step on the path since too many people are on it by this time of the day."

They walked in silence until they saw the path beyond the trees.

"I'm sorry if you did not find out anything about the rebels today." Hana suddenly apologised.

Jin shook his head. "I should be the one apologising. If I was not with you at that time, the cougar might not have hurt you."

Hana merely smiled. "Actually, it is a normal everyday occurrence that I would get wounded on every hunt. So, don't take it to heart."

Jin smiled back and pressed some coins into her hand. "Consider this as a payment for taking the time to show me around the forest."

Hana looked at the coins and shook her head. "I cannot accept this. I did not even show you anything at all today!"

She tried to give the coins back but Jin refused to take it. "I insist, especially since you are wounded."

"Like I said, it is an everyday occurrence." Hana protested. "You don't have to be worried about my wellbeing. I still have my teaching job that I can rely on."

"But you needed to hunt to support yourself." Jin cut in. "Hikari told me that you had to resort to hunting to support yourself because your teaching job is not helping you."

Hana fell silent at that. Jin took this opportunity to press the coins back into her hand. "If you want to repay me, then continue to show me around the forest and the rebels. Hikari would never have told us about you if she did not believe that you would have been able to help us."

A knot formed in Hana stomach as guilt filled her heart. Jin was wrong. She and Hikari were ordered to fool him and his brother. Hikari did not introduce her because she wanted them to find the rebels. No, Hikari wanted the rebels to win. That's why she cannot stop the guilt from entering her heart. Although she wished like everyone else that the Kaidou Empire will fall, she cannot bring herself to harm Jin in anyway.

* * *

As the sun went lower, Hana walked Jin back to the forest entrance. "I think you should be able to find your way back from here."

Jin nodded and extended his hand to Hana. "Thank you for your assistance today."

Hana hesitated for a moment and took it. "My pleasure. We can try again tomorrow if you want..."

But Jin shook his head. "You need to rest. Maybe day after tomorrow."

"...Oh."

"But, I am hoping to see you again tomorrow." Jin added, blushing.

This made Hana blush too. "Um, I hope so too. Bye." She took off her bow and quiver from her shoulder and stored them in a hollow tree trunk. After she had stored them and made sure that the cloth covering them was secure, she strode back to her cottage.

Jin watched her leave and for the hundredth time he wondered why he was so attracted to her. 'Stop it Jin! You cannot like an average commoner like her! And you have to focus on your mission. It is what comes first!'

He shook his head and went back to town to look for Muraku.

* * *

Unbeknown to Jin, Hana did not immediately go back to her cottage. Instead, she took a detour to an oak tree that was blown over and sighed. "Haruki? Are you there? Hikaru? Arata?"

A soft rustle came from the trees and Arata swung down from a rope tied to a branch of a nearby tree. "Hana, we saw the whole thing."

"Where are Haruki and Hikaru?" Hana asked coolly, switching to her cold and emotionless personality.

Arata nodded upwards. "Up there."

Hana looked up and saw Hikaru and Haruki leaning on the rope rails of the tree bridge. They waved and gave her a knowing look.

"We have to give Ban a report of what happened today." Arata continued. "If you want, we can cut the last conversation you had with Jin before you parted ways."

"Just give Ban a general idea about what happened." Hana said emotionlessly. "But there is no need to go into detail."

Arata nodded, smiling. "Ok. Just take care of your arm. We did not lure that cougar there for nothing."

Hana nodded. "I figured that it was your doing. Don't worry. I can get him to trust me, with or without your help."

Arata nodded and climbed up the rope to the tree bridge where Hikaru and Haruki were. Hana made sure that he had got up safely and went back to her own cottage.

"Oh, by the way," Arata called her just before she went too far. "Please stay focus."

Hana rolled her eyes. "Don't underestimate me. I know what I must do."

"You better."


	10. Chapter 9

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

Muraku's pov

Long after we had left the meadow, I could not shake off the feeling that someone was watching us the whole time we were there. I really did not give it much thought as I trust Hikari when she said that no one could overhear us there...yet, something about Hikari has been troubling me the whole time we came to Misora Town.

Once we got back to town square, I looked around the place, hoping to catch a glimpse of Hikari.

"Muraku, are you alright?" Vanessa asked me concernedly. "You have been distracted since we left the meadow."

I looked at her for a moment and shook my head. "I was thinking about something." After some thought, I turned to Mikhail. "Can you and Kageto follow me to the blacksmith's shop? I have something to ask the blacksmith."

Mikhail blinked in surprise but slowly nodded. "Alright...I will get Kageto."

Vanessa looked at Mikhail and back to me. "Muraku, can I follow too?"

I thought for a moment and considered to tell her to stay but changed my mind seeing how worried she was for us...well, mainly Mikhail, but I knew that she cared a lot for me and Kageto too. So I nodded. "Sure. Just stay close to us."

Vanessa's lips turned up a bit. "Thank you."

"Muraku, why do you need to see the blacksmith?" Kageto asked when he and Mikhail returned. I could hear a hint of jealousy and annoyance in his question and nearly smirked.

"I just need to ask him a few questions about the rebels." I calmly explained.

They looked at me in surprise. Mikhail frowned for a moment and it turned into a look of confusion. "Wait, did you find out something when he bumped into you earlier today?"

I nodded with a smirk and gestured for them to follow me. "When he was bowing down to apologise, I saw that he had a medallion with the old symbol of Aradia, the one that was used before grandfather took over the kingdom."

Vanessa frowned in confusion. "But what does the old symbol of Aradia has to do with the rebels?"

"I'm curious on that too." Kageto added.

I came into an abrupt halt in my tracks, just in front of the blacksmith shop. "That symbol is believed to be Aidara's symbol."

XXXXXXXXX

"Welcome, can I...oh, you are the person I bumped into earlier!" Takeru exclaimed when he saw me.

I nodded with a small smile. "Yes, Takeru, is it?"

Takeru gave us a beaming smile. "Yup, so, do you need anything that needs forging or sharpening?"

I shook my head. "Actually, I am interested in the medallion that you are wearing. Can you tell me where you bought it?"

Takeru blinked in surprise and for a moment, I saw panic and fear in his eyes. But he gave us a pleasant smile. "Sorry, but my grandfather gave it to me before he died nine years ago. He said that he made it himself." He told us proudly, no doubt filled with pride for his grandfather.

"I see." I smiled. "It is nice to keep something like that as a memento."

Takeru grinned and slipped the medallion off his neck. "Do you want to have a look?"

I took it and had a close look at it. Although it did have Aradia's symbol on it, it was a bit rusty and worn out. I handed it to Kageto who fingered it carefully.

"So, what do you think about it?" Takeru asked us. "My grandfather said that it will forever be the symbol of Aradia no matter what because it is the symbol of the peace , just like how Aradia means 'harmony' in the ancient languages."

My head shot up. "That is something I never heard of."

Kageto nodded in agreement and handed back the medallion to Takeru. "Now all they talk about is how the Kaidou Empire came to existence."

Takeru's features darkened for a moment but quickly straightened up when the door opened.

"Takeru, I'm back!" An all to familiar voice called.

I spun around and saw Hikari at the door looking just as shocked as we were.

"Muraku...mina..."

"Oh, welcome back, Hikari." Takeru greeted her. "You know them?"

Hikari snapped out of her daze and nodded nervously. "Yes, they are my friends."

"Souka." Takeru grinned although I could see that it was being forced. "I need to take care of some things at the back. Can I leave them to you?"

Hikari slowly nodded. "Sure."

"Thanks. I owe you one." Takeru picked up some of his tools and went to another room at the back.

Once Takeru closed the door behind him, Hikari rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I guess I forgot to mention that I am staying with Takeru."

Vanessa shook her head. "You didn't."

I studied her for a moment and noticed that her boots were slightly muddy. "Hikari, where were you just now?"

For a mere second, I noticed that her eyes had a flicker of fear before it fade. She laughed. "I was at the market."

"...Souka." I gave her one last look. "We should be going now."

Hikari nodded. "I will see you in the morning."

I nodded and left the building with Vanessa, Mikhail and Kageto following me. I could tell that they are wondering what have I gotten out of this trip.

* * *

"Muraku, do you think Takeru was lying when he said that the medallion was given to him by his grandfather?" Mikhail asked once we were back in the inn in the room that was shared between me and Mikhail. Vanessa and Mikhail had taken up one of the beds, Kageto was leaning on the wall beside the door while I was sitting on my own bed.

I closed my eyes and nodded at Kageto. "How old do you think it is?"

Kageto rubbed his chin in thought. "Based on its looks and texture, I would say twenty years."

"If it is twenty years old, I think we can rule out the fact that he is a part of Aidara for now since his grandfather made the medallion with Aradia's symbol long before Aidara was founded." I told them.

"So in the end it was a false alarm." Vanessa slumped her shoulders. Mikhail patted her shoulder to encourage her. "Cheer up. At least we know that Hikari is living at the blacksmith's place now."

I looked up a bit at that statement. "Vanessa, when you were in the market earlier this afternoon, was there any places where it is muddy?"

Vanessa eyed me curiously but shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Kageto, what about you?"

Kageto shook his head too. "There isn't."

I frowned at that. "In that case, Hikari was lying that she was at the market."

The three of them looked at me in shock.

"Muraku, what do you mean Hikari was lying?" Mikhail immediately asked me.

"Her boots." I simply said. "There was mud on them."

Vanessa frowned. "But couldn't she have gotten the mud from somewhere else before going to the market?"

"The mud was still fresh and have not dried up yet." I explained. "Also, her eyes betrayed fear when I asked her where she was."

"But that..."

"Anyway," I cut her off, "although Takeru is currently off our suspect list, it does not mean that he may not be a rebel. The same goes for Hikari. As much as I hate to say it, she is now one of our suspects and we cannot show that we suspect her or who knows what she would do."

Vanessa's face fell and I could not blame her. Out of all of us, Hikari is probably the only person she spends the most time with other than Jessica. Mikhail squeezed her shoulders reassuringly.

"Don't worry. If Hikari is innocent, then nothing will happen to her."

"I hope so." Vanessa whispered softly.

* * *

Normal pov

Ban looked up from the book he was reading when Asuka barged into his tree house. Her dark blond hair was slightly messy and sticking out at various places, indicating that she just woke up. But what scared Ban was the panicked look in her blue eyes.

"Ban, you will not believe this!" She panted. "Takeru and Hikari sent me a message. The younger prince is on to them!"

Ban shut his book and frowned. "What else did they say?"

"Apparently, Takeru bumped into the younger prince this afternoon and he spotted the medallion our grandfather gave Takeru." Asuka rushed to explain. "Later, when Hana was in the woods with the older one, the younger prince visited the forge with his friends and also found out that Hikari was staying there too. Also, the prince seem to notice that Hikari was lying about her whereabouts after she left them."

"This could be serious." Ban mused. Finally, he got up from his chair and patted Asuka's shoulder. "Don't worry, Arata and I will make our move soon and they would focus less on Hikari and Takeru."

Asuka gasped. "You're really going to do it, aren't you?!"

Ban nodded. "Yes."

Asuka pursed her lips and nodded. "Alright, what should I tell Takeru?"

"Tell him and Hikari to remain calm and continue their roles no matter what."


	11. Chapter 10

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

Ban was very quiet the next morning. Waking up at the crack of dawn was not what he was planning, but in order to make his plan clear to Arata, he had no choice. As he walked along the tree bridges, he automatically went to his favourite spot where he could see the sun rise.

"Ban!" Arata called as he ran over to his brother. "What do you need to talk to me about?"

Ban did not turn around and leaned on the ropes holding the bridge together. "We need to talk about our next move."

Arata looked at Ban in confusion. "Did something happen on Hikari and Takeru's side?"

"Ah," Ban nodded. "The younger prince is suspecting them now."

"Then what should we do?" Arata asked feeling worried for his two friends.

"Simple." Ban answered shortly. "We befriend the princes and draw their attention from Hikari and Takeru."

Arata gasped and wondered if his brother was out of his mind. "Ban, are you out of your mind?!"

Ban calmly shook his head. "No, I am not."

"Then why!?"

"We need to do this." Ban explained in the same calm tone, though this time it had an edge, indicating that he expects Arata not to interrupt and kept quiet. "I want you to do it because I want you to see something important by befriending them."

"But Ban!" Arata tried to protest. But Ban would not have any of it.

"Enough Arata!" Ban raised his voice. "Just do for Hikari, Takeru and your sake! If we don't do anything, they might get arrested! And you must learn that not everyone on the evil side is truly evil!"

This shut Arata up. Although he agreed that Ban had a point about preventing Hikari and Takeru getting arrested, he was still against the plan. But knowing Ban, he would not let him off that easily.

"...Fine," Arata sulked. "When do we start?"

Ban smiled. Although he knew that Arata was still against it, he was glad that he would at least go with it with good grace. "Next week. If we show up now, their suspicions on them might go up and it might be bad for the both of us too."

"Should I let Hikaru and Haruki know?" Arata asked, thinking that if he had them watching out, he would at least have some comfort in his friends being there for him.

Ban thought for a moment and nodded. "Yes, you can. But like I said, under no circumstances are they to have no contact with Hikari."

Arata nodded. "Hai." He turned to leave when Ban stopped him.

"Remember, do not lose your temper at them."

Arata frowned but nodded. "Hai."

* * *

Hikari could not bring herself to eat her breakfast as the fear of being found out hung over her. Takeru frowned as he finished up his own breakfast.

"Hikari, you should eat something." He gently tried to coax her to eat. "Nee-san did tell us to remain calm and continue doing what we are doing now. It's not like they would discover your affiliations with Aidara by knowing that you were lying that you went to the market."

Hikari sighed and lowered her fork. "How sure are you?" When she did not get any answer, she continued. "For the past few years, I always lived with the constant fear that the king would find out and use me as a weapon against Aidara. And now they are suspecting me."

Takeru looked at her carefully and wrapped an arm over her shoulder. "You don't have to worry too much. Once Ban feels that we are in danger, he will send someone to bring us back to the forest."

Hikari flicked her eyes at him and down at her growling stomach. She sighed and gave in, "Fine, but it doesn't mean that I'll stop worrying."

"I did not say that you should." Takeru calmly explain. "I just want you to have faith in Ban that he will not let anything happen to us."

Hikari took a deep breath. "Ok, what should we do today?"

Takeru took out a piece of paper from his pocket and examined it. "Nee-san did not say anything more other than to continue our roles."

He folded it up and threw it in the fire. "I have to continue to sharpen some sickles from Farmer Dale. Are you going to see Muraku and Jin?"

Hikari shook her head. "I want to take a walk."

"Then, carry this just in case." Takeru gave her a leather sheath that contained the dagger that he gave her. "I modified the sheath so that you can strap it to your boot. Unless you lift up your skirt, no one can see it."

Hikari took it and strapped it to her boot. She looked up with a watery smile. "Thanks."

Takeru waved it off. "Don't mention it. I got to start the fire in the forge now."

He patted Hikari's arm and went down to the forge. Hikari smiled after him and tied her cloak over her shoulders. It was barely five minutes since Takeru left when he called her down.

"Hikari, there is someone who wants to see you!" Takeru's voice came through from downstairs.

Hikari gasped softly and peaked down from the stairs. Sure enough, Muraku was there but there was no sign of Vanessa, Mikhail and Kageto, meaning that he came here alone. She gulped and tentatively went down.

* * *

Hikari's pov

'Oh no, oh no, oh no! Why would Muraku want to see me!? Calm down Hikari!' I scolded myself. 'Act normal and stay calm, he won't suspect anything!'

"Oh, Muraku, ohayo." I greeted him with a smile that I knew was forced. Muraku seems to have noticed this and his smile dropped slightly.

He nodded at me and gestured for me to go outside with him. Since I was going to have a walk anyway, I followed him out, giving Takeru a reassuring smile as I passed him.

"Do you have any plans today?" He asked me once we were outside.

I shook my head. "I was not planning on anything other than having a walk."

"Then would you accompany me to the forest?"

This question caught me off guard but nevertheless, I nodded and followed him as we weaved through the throngs of people passing by.

"Muraku, slow down." I said as I tried to catch up with him. He was fast and there was too many people pushing us around. If I was not careful, I might get separated from him.

He seemed to have heard me for he turned around and grabbed my hand. I blushed a bit but said nothing as Muraku led me around. When we finally reached the gates, I noticed that Muraku was still holding my hand and I blushed. "Um, Muraku, you can let go of my hand."

Muraku looked down at his hand and for a moment I saw that he looked a bit reluctant. But he released his grip on my hand and walked off the path. I stared at him for a moment and followed him behind.

* * *

Normal pov

When they had placed a good distance from the town, Hikari decided to ask the question that has been in her mind for a while. "Muraku, what is the purpose of coming here today?"

Muraku flicked his eyes at her and for a moment, she could not read the emotions that were in them. "I want to talk to you privately."

A knot formed in her heart and Hikari really thought that Muraku had found out that she am with Aidara!

He stopped abruptly and spun around. "Why are you staying with Takeru?"

"Eh?" Hikari really was not expecting this.

"What I mean is," Muraku rephrased. "What is your relationship with Takeru that made you stay with him?"

"We are just friends!" She yelled, thinking that he got the wrong idea. "I have been staying with him long before I came to work at the palace, so we are like brother and sisters!" Which was quite true. A year before Ban sent her on her mission; she was staying with Takeru and Asuka while Hikaru and the rest were hiding in the forest.

Muraku eyed Hikari for a moment to see if she was lying. After what seemed to be an eternity, he softened. "I am sorry for asking this question, but I really wanted to know."

Hikari gave a nervous laugh. "I do not know why you would care though."

Muraku opened his mouth to say something but closed it. Instead, he turned around and continued walking. "Let's go."

Hikari watched him for a moment and smiled to herself. She was getting more drawn to Muraku more than ever...but at the same time, she wished that she could convince him that Aidara were not the ones who were evil but his grandfather was.


	12. Chapter 11

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

Jin looked around for the hundredth time as he walked to Hana's cottage. For some reason, he felt that he was being followed since he left the inn. Muraku had mentioned that he sensed someone following them at the meadow yesterday, but he did not know what to think about it. It could be Aidara or it could be just a coincidence.

Shrugging off the feeling, he went up to the door of Hana's cottage and brought up his hand to knock. But before he could do that, the door flung open and a bunch of kids ran out, forcing Jin to step aside to avoid them.

"Thank you, Hana-sensei!" They waved and ran back to the village. Jin was still a bit bewildered and stared at them.

A chuckle from the door brought him back to his senses. "I guess they startled you when they came out."

Jin smiled wryly and shook his head. "I wonder how you manage with kids. They are like a heard of wild animals."

For a moment, Hana's eyes darkened but it soon disappeared as she smiled politely. "Once you gain their respect, you will find it easy."

Jin observed her for a while and looked back at the direction the kids ran off. "I wonder if life is all fun if you stay as a child."

Hana opened her mouth to say something but Jin held up his hands and continued. "But at one point all of us have to grow up."

Hana kept quiet for a while as she contemplated on Jin's words and nodded in agreement. "Maybe you are right."

Jin turned to her and eyed her arm which was covered with her long sleeves. "How is your arm?"

Hana glanced down at her arm and smile. "It's fine. I can still move it."

Jin did not look convince and took her arm gently and pushed up the sleeves. It was completely bandaged and there was a smell of herbs coming out from it. "I see that you have been taking care of yourself."

Hana drew back her arm and rolled down the sleeves. "Yeah, like I said yesterday, I get hurt on every hunt so I know how to take care of myself."

"What kind of herbs did you use?" Jin enquired curiously.

Hana smiled gently and sat on the doorstep. She gestured at the spot beside her for Jin to sit beside her, which he obligated.

"It is my personal recipe for wound healing cream." She explained. "I used a mixture of Speedwell flowers, Yarrow oil, Calendula flower oil and Aloe Vera."

Jin looked thoughtful for a moment. "So, if you use those herbs, it will speed up wound healing?"

Hana nodded. "Yup. It also helps elevate the pain."

"Nature really is a wonder." Jin said in amazement.

Hana nodded. "Yes."

Jin looked up at the sky and got up. "I have to go now. But can we go into the forest tomorrow?"

Hana nodded. "Same time?"

"Same time." Jin extended his hand and pulled her up. "This time, I will come here so that you would not have to wait in the forest and risk anyone seeing you."

Hana stood stunned for a minute. When she opened her mouth, she stammered, "T-T-There's not need to do that. You could meet up with me at the same place."

But Jin would have none of it. "I prefer to come to your cottage. It has a soothing atmosphere around it like you."

This caused Hana to blush a bit. Now she was beginning to believe Hikari when she said that Jin likes her. But at the same time, part of her is drawn to the man in front of her.

"I will see you tomorrow." Jin nodded at her and left.

Hana stared at his departing figure and tried to figure out the feeling that was pooling her stomach. It was warm but at the same time, it there was a mixture of guilt and shame. Other than Ban, no one has been this kind to her at all, and she was repaying his kindness by lying to him.

* * *

On another part of town, Vanessa and Mikhail were wandering around the market.

"I don't know about you, but I am definitely sick of the food at the inn." Vanessa declared.

Mikhail had to nod in agreement. "I don't think most of it agrees with my stomach."

"Let's see," Vanessa stopped at a stall that was selling vegetables and examined some it the goods. "It doesn't look fresh, but the quality is good."

"That's because we pride ourselves in using nature to keep the insects away." The shopkeeper explained to her.

Vanessa looked up and touched the surface of a cabbage. "By using nature, do you mean that you use birds to chase insects away?"

The shopkeeper nodded. "Yup. Also, we depend on cats and hedgehogs to help us. That is why Misora Town is famous for its agriculture."

Mikhail examined a cauliflower and smiled. "I'm sure that your business must be good."

The shopkeeper's face darkened a bit. "It would have if the mayor did not tax the people excessively. Now I have fewer customers because less people can afford to buy one meal now." This made them look up in surprise.

"I don't get it." Mikhail said once they left the stall but not without giving it some business. "I thought the tax level was set to be affordable by everyone."

Vanessa furrowed her brow. "I don't know. But I can see that most people here could not even afford one meal like the shopkeeper said. Remember what Hikari said, many citizens of Aradia have to get another source of income even if it means breaking the law."

"So," Mikhail lowered his voice. "Do you think that we should tell Muraku or Jin that the mayor is taxing the people over the tax level?"

Vanessa thought for a moment and shrugged. "I don't know. The mayor might deny it."

Mikhail hated to admit it, but Vanessa had a point. He frowned as they approached the town square. There was a crowd of people gathering there and from the looks of it, it cannot be anything good.

"Mikhail?" Vanessa glanced nervously at her companion.

"Let's have a look."

They squeezed through the throng of people and when they reached to the front, they gasped. A young boy around their age's hands was tied to a stake and was bleeding profusely from the whipping he got from the mayor who was standing beside him with a scourge in his hands.

"Do you, Wataru Kenbishi, admit guilty of your crimes?" The mayor demanded.

The boy, Wataru, groaned and shook his head. "No..." His voice was barely more than a whisper.

Bishop growled and raised his whip. Wataru gulped and braced himself for the pain to come again. But much to his surprise, there was the sound of flesh hitting flesh and a groaned from the mayor. Daring to look up, he saw the same boy who he saw leaving the mayor's office just yesterday.

"What is going on here!?" Muraku demanded. Behind him, Hikari ran to Wataru and checked on his wounds.

Bishop rubbed his swollen jaw and pointed an accusing finger at Wataru with his other hand. "This brat had stolen a loaf of bread from my office!"

"What evidence do you have?" Hikari asked as she untied the ropes on Wataru's hand.

"Because he was fooling around my office when the crime happened!" Bishop said triumphantly.

"That is not true!" A voice called out from the crowd who parted to show who it was. Takeru stepped forward, holding a dog by a rope in his hands. "I saw this very dog jump into your office through the window and came out with a loaf of bread in its jaws!"

Bishop glared at him. "How can we be sure that you did not make this up just to save this brat?!" He flicked the whip at Wataru as he said this.

"The baker can testify this." He turned to the said man who nodded.

"Yes, I did see the dog jump into your office, but if I knew that it stole your bread, I would have told you."

Bishop growled and rolled up his scourge. "Fine, Wataru Kenbishi is declared _innocent_." He spat out the last word. "You may take him away." He stormed off.

Hikari sighed in relief and nodded thanks at Takeru and the baker.

"Muraku!" Vanessa and Mikhail ran over. "Why are you here?"

"Hikari and I just left the forest when we came across this." Muraku explained. He turned to the boy in front of him. "How is he?" He asked, kneeling down to examine Wataru. There was a pool of blood gathering around the boy, staining Hikari's skirt and Muraku's pants but neither of them cared as their main priority is the boy in front of them.

"I think he lost a lot of blood." Hikari rambled. "And he might have punctured a lung or two..."

"Hikari, calm down." Takeru advised her as he came up to them. "We should take him to the apothecary. Uchira-san can heal him."

Muraku nodded. "Can you take us there?"

Takeru nodded. "But we have to carry him there."

Muraku nodded and turned to Mikhail. "You take the right, I will take the left."

Mikhail nodded and placed Wataru's right arm over his shoulder while Muraku did the same with his left arm.

"Come on. It's not that far." Takeru gestured for them to follow him.

* * *

"Thank you for looking at him." Takeru thanked Uchira once she declared that Wataru was stabilized. The others had waited outside the building while Takeru offered to stay with Wataru.

Uchira waved it off. "Consider it as a thank you for saving me when I could not pay off my debts. He should be fully recovered in a few days time if he rest well."

Takeru nodded. "Alright." He took out some coins but Uchira refused to take them.

"It's on me this time."

Takeru was slightly surprise but smiled. "Thank you."

* * *

"Takeru, how is he?" Hikari asked worriedly when Takeru came out.

He smiled reassuringly at her. "Don't worry. Uchira-san believes that he will be able to make a full recovery in a few days."

They sighed in relief. "Thank goodness."

Muraku suddenly frowned. "But, what the mayor did today was rather unforgivable."

Takeru shrugged. "He is always like that. He always does what he wants and never gives a thought about the people."

"This is clearly a violation of the rules of The Kaidou Empire!" Mikhail argued. "We have to stop him."

Takeru pretended to eye him skeptically. "There is nothing you can do. What can normal commoners do to him?"

"I will talk to my brother about it." Muraku told him. "He may be able to help us."

"Good luck with that." Takeru snorted. "Unless a higher up deposits him, he won't give up his position that easily." He placed his hands behind his head and walked off.

"What is his problem?" Vanessa fumed, furious at Takeru's lack of respect to Muraku.

"Um, that's the whole point, isn't it?" Hikari spoke up. "We are not supposed to let anyone know that Muraku is...you know..."

"Hikari is right." Muraku told them. "To everyone, we are only normal commoners. It is no surprise that Takeru is skeptic of us."

"He is right." Mikhail placed a hand on Vanessa's shoulder to calm her down.

Vanessa took a deep breath and sighed. "You are right. I am sorry for losing my temper earlier."

"It's alright." Hikari placed a hand on her arm. "But on the other hand, what are we going to do about Bishop?"

Muraku thought for a moment and turned to the direction of the inn. "We have to discus about it with Jin first."

Vanessa and Mikhail exchanged glances and followed him while Hikari lingered behind. A small voice in her head was telling her that she was a horrible person for keeping secrets from them. But she shook it off and went back to the forge. One thing she could not afford to do now is to screw up her cover.


	13. Chapter 12

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

One week later, Jin's pov

It was getting rather frustrating for the past week. We were getting nowhere in our search for the rebels. It is like they know exactly what we are going to do. As much as I hate to admit it, but someone in our group must be sneaking information to them.

"Jin, is there something bothering you?" Hana asked me worriedly as we trekked further into the forest. For the past week it has been the same, we trek and try to find cover more ground so that we can narrow down where the rebels could be hiding. So far, we had managed to narrow it down to the inner forest but Hana was reluctant to bring me there until I prepared myself well.

I quickly shook my head. "No, I am just wondering about something."

She furrowed her brow. "You have to stay focus out here. Anything can easily happen out here."

I nodded and ran to catch up to her. "What is beyond that outcrop there?" I pointed at the said place and Hana's face immediately paled.

"That is where the road path is the closest to the forest and the favourite place for the bandits to rob and kill people." She carefully picked her words. "I would not recommend going there. They can easily outnumber us any day."

I looked back at the outcrop and back to Hana who was already walking again. She was still a bit shaken that she tripped over the root of a nearby tree.

"Hana!" Without thinking, I ran forward and grabbed her by the waist and we fell down with her on top of me. When she dared to open her eyes, she gasped and blushed like mad.

"I'm so sorry!" She tried to get off me but I suddenly grabbed her hands and pulled her back.

"It's ok." I told her as I pushed myself up. Our eyes met and I was mesmerized by her chocolate brown ones. As though my body had a mind of its own, I leaned forward a bit and felt Hana tensed but leaned forward too. As our lips met, I ran one hand up Hana's arm to her back and the other to the back of her head to deepen the kiss. Soon enough, her hands were around my neck.

When we broke apart for air, I rested my forehead on hers. "I am sorry, but I really could not help it." I panted.

Her cheeks were flushed red and she shook her head. "There's nothing to be sorry about. I did want the kiss too." She scrambled off me and offered her hand to pull me up. I took it but instead of her pulling me up, I pulled her down so that she was sitting on my lap now.

"J-J-Jin!"

I merely smirked. "There is no rush. We can stay like this for as long as we want."

Hana's blush deepened and tried to squirm out of my arms. "B-B-But-!"

She was cut off when I silenced her with my lips. Seeing no other way out, she gave in and kissed me back. We stayed like this for a few minutes until she suddenly pulled away.

"We should be returning now before the predators of the woods come out."

I was reluctant to let her go but she was right. "Alright."

We got up and went back to the main path. But on the way there, we saw two people wandering around looking lost.

* * *

Normal pov

"Ban, are you sure that this is the way to Misora Town?" Arata nervously asked his older brother. It turns out that getting to Misora Town was easier said than done. They had never been to Misora Town before as they had lived in the forest most of their lives. The directions that Asuka gave them were no help at all either.

Ban rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm sorry Arata, but I think we are lost."

"Maji?!" Arata screamed. "We have been walking for hours and you're saying that we are lost!?"

"Is there anything wrong?" Jin asked as he approached them from behind, making them jump.

"Ah!" Arata yelped and jumped behind his brother. Seeing that it was only Jin with Hana, he relaxed a bit. "And I thought that it was Aidara." He said, keeping in character.

Ban laughed nervously and turned to Jin. "Sorry about that, but to answer your question, we are lost."

"That's normal for people who do not follow the path." Hana remarked. "Come on, we're headed back to the path too. You can follow us."

"Thanks." Ban sighed in relief and followed them with Arata.

"So what brings you to Misora Town?" Hana asked as they walked back to the town gates although she somewhat guessed why Ban and Arata were out here.

"Well, you see," Ban held up his sword sheath. "I heard that there is a skilled blacksmith in Misora Town and I was hoping that he would sharpen my sword since there is no blacksmith in where we live. I'm Ban by the way, and this is my brother, Arata."

Arata politely nodded. "Ah, and we got lost thanks to Ban's terrible sense of direction." He gave his brother a pointed look as he said that, making Ban sweat drop.

"Then it is a good thing we came by when we did." Jin remarked.

"Where are you planning to go once you get to town?" Hana curiously asked.

"We were hoping to find an inn and rest for the night before heading to the blacksmith's place tomorrow." Arata told them.

"Souka. You can stay at the inn I am staying at." Jin suggested. "But it can be a bit expensive though."

"That's ok." Ban assured him. "I made sure to bring enough money for a few days."

Jin smiled and looked over at Arata. "You are about the same age as my brother. I think you should meet him."

Arata shrugged. "Fine with me."

* * *

"Wataru, you have just recovered. You should stay home and rest, not running out here." Hikari chided the said boy beside her with a basket in his hands as they walked to the inn which Muraku was staying at.

"But I want to give this to Muraku-san now." He protested. "I was extremely grateful when he saved me that day so this is the least I could do."

Hikari sighed. This boy was too stubborn to listen to her. "Wataru, I understand that you are keen to show your appreciation and all that, but why don't you let me bring the gift to them and you go back and rest?"

"But it would be meaningless if I don't give it in person!"

Hikari groaned and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Ok, just promise me that you would go straight home as soon as you give him your gift."

Wataru mocked a salute. "Hai."

Hikari soon spotted the inn and Muraku just leaving the building. "There it is. And it looks like Muraku is just leaving."

"AH!" Wataru ran ahead to catch Muraku before he took another step. "Muraku-san!"

Muraku heard his name being called and turned around just as Wataru ran over. "Wataru?"

"Muraku-san, thank you for saving me that day." Wataru bowed. "I wanted to show my appreciation, so I want to give you this." He held out the basket to him.

Muraku was a bit bewildered until Hikari caught up to them. "Wataru! You haven't fully recovered from your injuries and you ran off like that!"

Wataru jumped and bowed down at Hikari. "G-G-Gomen, but I was afraid that I would miss the chance to give Muraku-san the gift."

"Hikari, it is fine." Muraku spoke up. "And thank you, Wataru." He took the basket from him and opened it. Inside were some fresh vegetables and a chunk of cheese.

"The vegetables came from our farm and the cheese was made by our cow's milk." Wataru bowed again. "I need to go back now. Thank you." He took off back to his home.

"A-A-Ah! Wataru, don't run!" Hikari yelled after him, but she was sure that he might not have heard her.

Muraku smiled and closed the basket. "So how are his injuries?"

Hikari gave him a wry smile. "He's recovering well, but should take it easy. As soon as Uchira-san discharged him, he ran all the way to the forge to thank Takeru before going back to his house to pick the vegetables and cheese." She told him drily.

A small chuckle left his mouth. "I figured so."

"Where you going anywhere before Wataru called you?"

Muraku shook his head. "I was hoping to see if Jin had returned. He never stayed out in the forest this late before."

"I don't think there is anything to worry about. Hana is with him and maybe he wanted to walk her back to her cottage and forgotten the time. This happened a few times before."

Muraku cocked an eyebrow. "And who told you that?"

Hikari blushed and shifted on her feet. "Well, I may have walked by a few times and saw Jin at Hana's place."

Muraku shook his head. "I think he really is in love with her."

Hikari nodded in agreement. "Yup, and I think Hana is too, but she might not admit it."

They stood out there in silence for a while.

"...Muraku, what will you do if once you have to return to the palace?" Hikari suddenly asked.

Muraku glanced at her for a moment and averted his eyes. "I will continue travelling around the kingdom for a while. Staying here in Misora Town showed me that I still have a lot to learn about the outside world."

"That's good." Hikari smiled warmly. "It's good to see what the kingdom has to offer."

"But, I hope that you will come with me too." Muraku muttered softly.

"Eh, what did you say?" Hikari asked, not catching on what he said.

Muraku shook his head. "It's nothing. Can you stay over for tonight?"

Sadly Hikari shook her head. "Sorry, but I have to go back now. I'll see you tomorrow though."

"Ah." Muraku nodded, feeling a bit disappointed inside.

"Ja ne." Hikari bowed and left.

'I wish I could tell you how I feel. But I know that you wouldn't accept them.' Muraku silently thought.


	14. Chapter 13

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

"OK, we will be parting ways here." Hana said when they reached the town gates.

Jin nodded."I will see you tomorrow." He brushed some of Hana's hair from her face and planted a kiss on her forehead.

She blushed and snuck a glance at Ban and Arata. Although they were pretending to be interested in something else, she could tell that they were wondering what had happened to the cold person she normally was.

Jin, however, did not notice this. He turned to Ban and Arata. "Come on. The inn is not too far."

This snapped Ban and Arata out of their thoughts and followed him. When the passed by Hana, they gave her questioning looks but she pretended to ignore them.

* * *

"Muraku, why don't you wait inside?" Mikhail asked his friend. "It's getting cold now and we cannot afford to have you sick."

Muraku wrapped his cloak around himself tightly and reluctantly nodded. "I suppose you are right."

"Don't worry," Mikhail assured him. "I'm sure that Jin probably got caught up with something, that's why he is late."

Muraku forced a smile and followed his friend into the tavern where dinner is served. "Where are the others?" He asked Mikhail, seeing that they were the only ones there.

"Kageto is putting some finishing touches to his latest project and he said that he would be late for dinner." Mikhail thought for a moment. "I think Vanessa and Jessica mentioned something about arguing with the cook to let them prepare our own meals. I'm pretty sure that they had dragged Yuuya along."

"That is good to hear." Muraku nodded and sat at an empty table. He looked up every time the door swung open but each time disappointed when it was not Jin.

Mikhail soon saw this and sighed. "Muraku, you need to relax a bit. Jin would not like it if you keep it up."

Muraku lowered his head. "Maybe you are right. But you would do the same if it was Vanessa."

Mikhail blushed at that statement and averted his gaze. "Muraku, please don't bring her into this."

"...Sorry, but how much longer are you going to wait before you confess to her?" Muraku asked. "Everyone can tell that you love each other."

"I know that I love her just as much as she loves me, but I feel that I am not ready for this yet." Mikhail looked down.

Muraku observed him for a moment and opened his mouth to speak but closed it when Jin came in with two people with him. "It looks like Jin brought company."

Mikhail followed his gaze and nodded. "I'll go and tell Vanessa and Jessica to prepare more food for them."

Muraku nodded. "Thank you."

* * *

Jin soon spotted his brother when he entered the tavern. He turned to Ban and Arata. "Why don't you join me and my brother for dinner?"

Ban exchanged a look with Arata. Although he could tell that the latter did not want to sit with Jin and company, he knew that this would be a crucial step in gaining their friendship. "Sure, why not?"

They went over to the table and Muraku stood up. "Jin, I see that you brought company."

Jin nodded. "Ah, I am sorry I am late, but I had been held up a bit. This is Ban and Arata."

Ban nodded at him. "Nice to meet you."

Arata grinned and gave him a small wave. "Hi."

Muraku nodded at them. "Have a seat."

Ban and Arata nodded and sat at the table. "Thanks."

"How long are you planning to stay here in Misora Town?" Muraku politely asked.

Ban tapped his chin. "About three to four days. I only came here to have my sword sharpened. Once I'm done with my business here, we have to go back to Jerin Town."

Jin nodded and smiled. "Souka."

"Hai! Here we go." Jessica and Vanessa came in carrying several trays of food. "We managed to convince the cook to let us use the kitchen and here is what we managed to whip up."

Jin and Muraku smiled. "Thanks."

Jessica smiled back pleasantly. "It's our pleasure. Enjoy." She winked at Ban and Arata at the last part and joined Yuuya and the others at another table.

Arata grinned and ate some bread. "You guys are lucky to have them cook for you. We don't even have this kind of food to eat at home."

Ban smiled and turned to Jin. "Do you mind bringing us to the blacksmith tomorrow? I have a very bad sense fo directions as you know, so I am afraid of getting lost again."

"I don't mind." Jin shook his head. "Would it be alright if we go in the morning?"

Ban nodded as he made a mental note to send several pigeon messages later.

* * *

Hana stared at the fire in the fireplace, trying to piece together what had happened. She and Jin had kissed! And Ban and Arata now know that Jin loves her...and probably that she loves him too. Although she hates to admit it, Jin had captured her heart just as she had captured his.

'I guess Hikari was right.' She thought with a smirk on her face. 'I just did not expect myself to be the same.'

She glanced at her hunting knife which was slightly hidden under her bed. It was a wonder how Jin never spotted Aradia's embalm on the knife but even if he did, he probably did not mentioned it.

"Tomorrow, I have to tell him about Aidara." She told herself determinedly. "I cannot afford to lie to him anymore."

A knock on her door made her look up suddenly. "Who's there?"

"It's me." Hikari's voice called through the door. Hana frowned in confusion. Why would Hikari be out this late?

"Hang on." She got up and carefully opened the door. "Hikari, why are you here this late?"

Hikari looked around nervously and entered the cottage. "Did you know that Ban and Arata are in Misora Town?"

Hana slowly nodded. "Yeah, I met them in the forest. They got lost, so Jin and I had to bring them back to town."

Hikari pulled out a small piece of paper. "This came in just after dinner. Ban said that all members of Aidara in town should gather at Takeru's place tomorrow morning." She gave Hana the piece of paper.

Hana read through it and nodded. "Ok. I don't have to teach tomorrow, so I can make it." She said, folding up the paper and threw it into the fire. Hikari nodded but instead of leaving, she smiled. "Did you find out if Jin does like you?"

Hana blushed and smacked Hikari's arm lightly. "I still don't know."

Much to her surprise, Hikari laughed. "It's written all over your face! How can you say that when you clearly knew that Jin loves you?"

Hana's blush became redder and she sank into a chair. "Promise that you will absolutely not tell Ban or anyone else about what I am going to tell you."

Hikari nodded solemnly. "I promise."

Hana took a deep breath and motioned to Hikari to sit down in the chair opposite of her. "So, this afternoon, I took Jin out to the forest like usual and lead him away from the base..."

"As usual." Hikari finished for her.

"Right," Hana rubbed her hands together, "anyway, when we were trekking, we went close to the outcrop near to the road path...and I tripped."

Hikari winced. "Ouch."

"And Jin caught me before I fell down and I landed on top of him!"

Hikari's mouth dropped open and she started laughing.

"It's not funny!" Hana yelled, red faced.

"Sorry," Hikari apologized between giggles. "It's just that I think that it is exactly what he was hoping for. But, do continue."

Hana huffed. "So, I landed on top of him and one moment I was trying to get off him, the next thing I knew, we were kissing!"

It became so quiet that you could literally hear a pin drop. Finally, Hikari found her voice. "You. And. Jin. Were. Kissing."

Hana nodded wordlessly. "And now, I can't stand lying to him anymore. I have to tell him tomorrow."

Hikari stared at her friend in shock for a moment before she suddenly stood up. "Hana, he can easily turn you in if you do so!"

Hana did not listen to her and pulled out her hunting knife. "Hikari, look at this properly." She held it out so that Hikari can see Aidara's embalm. "He had many chance to see it, and yet he did not say a word about it."

"You mean you purposely let him see it?!" Hikari cried in disbelieve for her stupid boldness.

Hana calmly nodded. "I needed some assurance."

Hikari was torn by now. She wanted to support her friend's decision to be honest with Jin; on the other hand, she was afraid of what Ban and Arata would do. Swallowing thickly, she made up her mind. "Hana, if this is what you want to do, then, I'm with you all the way. You are more braver than I am to own up to Jin when all I can do is to wallow in guilt for lying to Muraku"

Hana smiled kindly at the girl. "Thank you. And I'm sure that one day, you will be able to face Muraku with the truth."

Hikari nodded and went for the door. "Good night."

"Good night." Hana watched her leave and a tear fell freely from her eye. She knew that Jin would definitely hate her and maybe even stop loving her. But in her heart, she knew that it was the right thing to do.


	15. Chapter 14

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

"So what are we going to do until Ban and Arata returns?" Haruki asked Kazu the next day when they gathered in front of the stables for breakfast.

Kazu thought for a moment and turned to Ami. "What do you think?"

Ami tapped her chin for a moment. "Perhaps we should continue to patrol the forest, but stay away from town and the road path."

"So, basically, we continue our activities like normal." Gouda concluded.

Ami nodded. "Ah. Also, Ban wants us to have Ran and Hiro back here before the weekends. And...I have a feeling that something bad would happen soon."

Hikaru shot up. "What do you mean?"

"I just have that feeling, but it might be nothing." Ami quickly said.

Asuka frowned. "Should we tell Ban about it?"

Kazu shook his head. "Ban made it clear that we should not send any messenger pigeons or let anyone leave the base unless it is an emergency."

"What about the fake base we were setting up?" Sakuya asked.

"It is 90% complete." Haruki told him. "And the tree bridges in that area have been severed from the main network."

Kazu nodded. "Good. Try to complete it before Ran and Hiro gets here. Then, we can have Hana lead the prince there so that they can arrive here without being caught."

"Hai!" Haruki, Hikaru and Gouda chorused.

* * *

"Here we are." Jin stopped in front of Takeru's forge/house.

"Thanks for leading us here." Ban thanked. "We would have gotten lost if you did not bring us here."

"My pleasure." Jin smiled. "I have to get going, but if you need to get around town, you can ask for someone in there to bring you around."

"Sure." Arata nodded. Jin nodded and left. Once he was out of sight, Arata gave Ban a wry look. "Ban, are you sure that this plan will work?"

"I'm sure." Ban said confidently. "Come on." He went inside with Arata trudging behind him.

* * *

"Ban! Arata!" Takeru greeted when they came in.

"SHHH!" Ban quickly shushed him. "Not so loud."

"Oh, right!" Takeru rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, I forgot."

"Where are Hikari and Hana?" Arata asked softly.

"Hikari is still sleeping." Takeru told him. "She was running around a lot yesterday and came back late. So I let her rest longer. As for Hana, she's at the back. I'll go and wake up Hikari. You can wait at the back."

Ban and Arata nodded and went to the back where Hana was waiting.

"Hana." Ban went up to her and hugged her briefly. "Sorry I did not send you a messenger pigeon, but I figured that it would be better to send only one to Takeru and Hikari."

Hana waved it off. "That's fine."

"Ohayo, Ban, Arata." Hikari greeted sleepily from the door with Takeru behind her.

Ban nodded at her. "Hikari, ohayo."

Arata looked at her closely. "Wow, you look terrible."

"Thanks a lot, Arata." Hikari answered sarcastically. It was a bit true that she looked terrible though. Her hair was rather messy and there were dark bags under her puffy eyes.

"Why don't you go back and sleep after listening what I have to tell all of you?" Ban suggested.

"Sure." Hikari mumbled.

"Ok, now that we are all here, I would like to say that all of you have been doing well in your jobs." Ban began. "The princes have fallen for our trap and it seems that they had been away longer from the palace than they planned. So, I suggest that we quickly finish things up so that they would return to the palace. Then we can put the final phase of our plan into action."

He turned to Hana. "I need you to lead Jin to the clearing west of the inner forest at the end of the week. I told Ami to get Ran and Hiro from Jerrin Town at that time. So, he must be out of the way then."

Hana nodded solemnly. "You can count on me."

"As for Hikari, when the princes return, don't go with them." Ban told the youngest member in the room.

Hikari shot up in shock. "What!?"

"It's getting too dangerous now. I have a feeling that Yoshimitsu Kaidou knows who you really are, but is bidding his time." Ban explained. "That's why, tomorrow night, you and Takeru are to head over to Hana's cottage and return to the base at dawn."

Hikari reluctantly nodded. "If you say so."

"And finally, Arata and I will rejoin all of you in three days time." Ban concluded. "If we succeed, we could get the princes by our side by the time of the invasion."

Takeru shifted uncomfortably. "Ban, are you sure that this is the only way?"

Ban nodded firmly. "Yes. We cannot afford to have a full scale war on our hands. The only way we can avoid it is by having more allies from the enemy's side or back down."

No one spoke, but the gravity of avoiding a full scale war and backing down weighted down on them.

"So, that's all I have to say." Ban spoke. "Does anyone have any questions?"

This was met with silence and Ban smiled. "Then the meeting is adjourned. Hikari, go get some rest. Takeru, here." He handed Takeru his sword. "Jin would probably come by anytime, so it is better that you start sharpening it."

"You can count on me." Takeru assured him and went into the forge.

"Arata, can you stay here for a moment?" Ban unexpectedly asked his brother. "I need to have a final word with Hana out at the back."

Arata frowned but nodded, "Fine."

Ban gestured Hana to follow him out and she complied wordlessly.

* * *

"What do you want to know?" Hana asked as she leaned on the wall behind her when they went outside.

Ban smiled. "How do you find Jin?"

Hana looked taken aback and shifted a bit. "He's honest, kind and selfless. Overall, he's not what we originally thought to be but a good person."

Ban's smile widened. "And he loves you. I can tell."

Hana's cheeks flushed red at that statement. "I don't think so."

"Stop denying it Hana." Ban told her seriously as his smile dropped. "I know that you love him too."

Hana snapped her head up. "What?!"

"Hana, I also know what you are planning to do today." He continued.

"...Would I be betraying Aidara if I do so?" Hana quietly asked.

Ban shook his head. "Everyone had misunderstood the true goal of Aidara. Aidara's goal is to bring down Yoshimitsu Kaidou and avenge my parents. But everyone thought that it included the princes when they are innocent in the first place."

"So..."

"Go and do what you believe is right." Ban told her firmly. "You have my support all the way as long as you complete your task."

Hana gripped her hands together tightly. "Thank you."

Ban merely smiled. "Just stay safe."

Hana nodded wordlessly and ran back to her cottage, filled with joy.

* * *

"Jessica, why do you want to come with me today?" Jin frowned at his companion as they walked to the forest.

"I...I just want to talk to you a bit." Jessica stammered. "Since you are often in the forest, I...I mean, we seldom have a chance to have even a single conversation with you."

Jin frowned. Jessica seems to be hiding something. "But Hana said that the forest is not a place for conversation. If you even let down your guard for a second, you will become prey to predators."

Jessica's eyes darkened a bit at the mention of Hana's name. But she faked a smile, "But that does not mean that we cannot talk until she gets here. I'll go back as soon as she arrives."

"Do so." Jin said without looking at her at all. He looked around for any signs of Hana to arrive. But when he turned around to address Jessica, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips on his, kissing him hard. It took him a few seconds to register what was she doing before his eyes became wide and quickly pushed her away.

"What are you doing?!" He roared. A flash of brown and black caught the corner of his eye and he quickly spun around. Dread filled his stomach when he realised that Hana had seen the whole thing. "Hana..."

* * *

'How could I been so blind!?' She berated herself as she ran with tears fell down her face. 'And to think that I love him!'

She was blinded by her tears that she did not notice that her hunting knife had fallen out from her pouch or the cougar that was watching her from a cliff, not until the last minute.

When she finally saw the cougar, it was sailing through the air towards her. Without given a chance to escape, the cougar soon landed on her from behind and pinned her to the ground.

Hana screamed and tried to dislodge the cougar but it was too heavy. As a last resort, she tried to find her hunting knife from her pouch but to her horror, it was not there. The cougar hissed and swiped at her arm causing blood to pour out. She winced as a searing pain shot up her arm before a piercing pain shot up her shoulder. The cougar had bitten her shoulder!

A scream escaped her mouth as the cougar bit her again.

* * *

"Hana!" Jin called as he ran in the direction that Hana had ran off to. He slowed down a bit when he spotted something glinting on the ground. Bending down to examine it, he realised that it was Hana's hunting knife! But when he looked at it closely, he saw the symbol of Aradia on the handle. Even though he had seen it before, he never gave it much though, but now, he realised that there was a word carved onto the handle: Aidara.

'What the-! Don't tell me...'

A loud scream interrupted his train of thought. "Hana!"

When he finally reached the source of the screaming, he gasped as the cougar bit Hana's shoulder. "Hana!" He quickly ran over and stabbed the cougar in the heart with her hunting knife. Seeing a chance, Hana used her elbow and jabbed at the ribs of the dead cougar, making it roll off her.

Sighing in relief, Jin reached out to help her. "Hana..."

"Don't touch me!" She slapped away his hand.

Jin clenched his fist. "Hana, it was a misunderstanding. She pushed herself on me before I knew it."

Hana glared at him as tears fell down her face and tried to push herself up. "I knew that this was not going to work." She sobbed. "I just knew it."

"Why?" Jin demanded as he gripped Hana's uninjured arm. "Is it because you are in Aidara?!"

Hana's eyes became wide and they drifted to the knife that was still in Jin's hand. "So what if I am? Just leave me here to die. I'll probably bleed to dead anyway."

Jin observed her for a moment with a torn expression. "You really want me to do that?"

"It's either that or you can bring me back to your grandfather. I'll die either way." Hana said lifelessly.

From the looks of Jin's face, he did not want to do that either. Instead, he carefully hoisted her onto his back and kept the knife in his pouch. "I am not doing that. We better get you back to your cottage to have a look at your wounds."

Hana trembled a bit. "Jin, what do you think you are doing?!"

"I cannot let you die." Jin told her. "I love you too much to do that."

For a moment, she was speechless. Jin really did love her enough to save her despite knowing that she was from Aidara. She rested her head on Jin's shoulder and cried herself to sleep.


	16. Chapter 15

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

"Ohayo, Takeru." Muraku greeted the teen when he entered the forge. Arata and Ban had left earlier so he is the only customer in the forge.

"Oh, Muraku, if you are looking for Hikari, she's still sleeping." Takeru informed him. "I can get her if you want."

"Please do so." Muraku told him. Takeru nodded and went upstairs. "Be back in a moment."

* * *

"Hikari, wake up." Takeru shook the blond girl's shoulder. "Muraku is here."

Hikari groaned and got up. "Just when I dozed off." She muttered under her breath.

Takeru raised and eyebrow and sat at the side of the bed. "Are you feeling alright? You look rather pale."

"Just a bit lightheaded and tired." Hikari sighed.

"Maybe you should stay in bed today." Takeru suggested. "I can tell Muraku that you are not feeling well and need to rest."

"There's no need to." Hikari said as she swung her legs off the other side of the bed. "I'll be back by noon."

Takeru sighed. "You are like Hikaru. The both of you are too stubborn to listen."

"That's because we are twins." Hikari remarked mildly. "I need to change."

Takeru nodded and went downstairs where Muraku was waiting.

* * *

"Ohayo, Muraku." Hikari greeted him when she came down.

" Hikari, ohayo." He pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on. "Let's go."

Hikari nodded and followed him out the door and gave Takeru a small smile as she passed him. Takeru frowned as they left.

"Muraku better not bring her back any worst than she already is." Takeru muttered to himself. He was about to return to the forge when the door opened and a man with light brown hair and black eyes entered.

"Welcome, is there anything I can help you with?" Takeru greeted him.

The man smiled. "Are you the blacksmith, Takeru Kojou?"

Takeru nodded. "Yes."

"My name is Takuya Uzaki, an adviser of Queen Claudia Renneton of Wecasta." He introduced himself.

Takeru froze for a moment and his mouth dropped wide open. "W-W-Wecasta!?"

Takuya nodded. "Ah. You are part of the rebel group of Aradia, Aidara, right?"

Takeru slowly nodded. "Yes."

"Then, I hope that you will help me deliver this letter to your leader." He reached inside his cloak and took out a scroll from a hidden pocket with a seal which Takeru recognised as Wecasta's seal and gave it to him. "It is important that this scroll does not fall into the wrong hands for it is written by the queen herself and any information in it must not be found out by the Kaidou Empire."

Takeru gingerly fingered the scroll. "Very well then. I will give it to our leader tomorrow morning."

Takuya nodded. "Keep it safe. A lot of people will do anything to attain the information in the scroll."

"I will." Takeru promised.

"Then, I will take my leave. But I hope to see your leader when he comes to Wecasta." Before Takeru could question it, Takuya slipped out of the door.

He looked down at the scroll and frowned. "I better find a hiding place for it first." He thought for a moment and smirked as his eyes landed on the box that filled with his failed experiments. "No one would think that I'll hide something delicate in a pile of knives and pitchforks." He found a piece of rag and wrapped it around the scroll and placed the bundle among the pile of scrap metal. "There." He smirked. "Now to go back to work."

* * *

"Jin really did that?!" Yuuya exclaimed when Jessica returned with puffy red eyes from crying.

She nodded. "Yeah, he chose that little commoner over his best friend."

"That's unsurprising." Kageto whispered to Vanessa and Mikhail who nodded in agreement. "Anyone can see that Jin only sees Jessica as a friend."

"Ohayo." Hikari greeted them when she and Muraku arrived. Jessica's head shot up at that moment and marched over to Hikari. Much to the shock of everyone, she slapped Hikari hard across the cheek.

"Jessica, what are you doing?!" Muraku demanded and he held on to Hikari's arms tightly.

"This is your fault!" Jessica screamed at the younger girl. "If you did not introduce that hunter to Jin, he would never have fallen in love with her!"

Hikari's face turned pale and she took a step back. Ban and Arata chose that moment to enter the inn.

"We're back, sorry we..." Arata trailed off when he noticed the tension in the room. "Are we interrupting something?"

Muraku shook his head. "No, there is just a little disagreement. Vanessa, Mikhail, Kageto, let's go. Yuuya, stay here with Jessica. If Jin comes back before I do, don't tell him about what happened just now. I will be the one who will do it."

They nodded and Muraku gently led Hikari out by the shoulder and motioned Ban and Arata to follow him out. His three friends so followed him out.

* * *

"I feel like I have done a mean trick on Jessica." Hikari lamented when they were outside.

Muraku tightened his grip on his shoulder. "No, she should not have done that. She has no right to push the blame on you."

"So, what happened back there?" Ban carefully asked Mikhail.

"Just a disagreement, like Muraku said." He answered.

"Ban, Arata, I am sorry that I have to trouble you, but can you please send Hikari back to the forge?" Muraku requested. "I have a few things to take care of."

Arata nodded cheerfully. "Sure, we are just about to go there to pick up Ban's sword anyway." He took Hikari's hand and tugged on it. "Come on."

A small smile formed on her face as she fell into step with him. "Ah."

Ban smiled and turned back to Muraku with a gentle smile. "I don't know what happen, but I hope that it will be resolved soon."

Muraku was slightly taken back by his gentleness and caring attitude but smiled back nevertheless. "I hope so too."

Ban glanced back at Arata and Hikari and shook his head. "I'll see you and your brother at dinner." He waved and caught up with them.

"Muraku, where should we go now?" Mikhail asked.

"Actually, I wanted to get away from Jessica for a moment, and I know that it would be better if Yuuya was the only one looking after her." He admitted. "Also, I was afraid that she would lash out at you if you stayed."

"You did not have to worry about us." Vanessa told him. "But, thanks for getting us out of there though."

"Now, you may go and do what you want." Muraku told them. "I want to wait for Jin at Hana's cottage to give him an update of what happened."

"Take care." Mikhail said and he and Vanessa went to the market.

Kageto cast Muraku a glance. "Do I want to know when will they stop being shy with their feelings?"

Muraku closed his eyes as a smile crossed his face. "I doubt that you would want to."

"I feel like the third wheel now." Kageto admitted. "What with Mikhail and Vanessa struggling with their feelings and you are often out, I feel like I'm an outsider."

"I don't think they would consider you an outsider at all." Muraku told him.

"I know." Kageto shrugged. "But, I think it is best to let them have their own time together."

Muraku smiled in agreement. "Yes. Do you want to come with me?"

Kageto perked up at that. "Sure. But, what will you tell him about Jessica's behaviour?"

"I will only give him a general idea of what happened." Muraku told him, but at the same time, he was a bit unsure of how Jin will react to it.

* * *

**OK, I will not be updating for the next...two weeks, thanks to a thing called exams :/**

**But anyway, please review and vote on the poll on my profile~ *Pleading eyes***


	17. Chapter 16

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

"Hana, wake up." Jin gently shook her.

She slowly stirred and pushed herself up. Immediately, she noticed that they were back at her cottage and her shoulder and arm were bandaged up. She blushed when she realised that Jin must have changed her out of her clothes to do so.

Jin saw this and smiled a bit. "No, I did not change you out. I just cut through your clothes a bit to do so. I hope you don't mind about it."

Hana sighed in relief. "You should have said so earlier."

Jin chuckled and wrapped his arm around her. "But, I mean it when I said that I love you."

Hana froze and pulled away with a sad frown. "Jin, can you please leave me alone for the moment? I need to rest."

His face fell a bit but he nodded and pushed a lock of hair from her face. "I will be outside if you need me."

"You're not going back to the inn?" Hana asked in surprise.

Jin shook his head. "No. I want to be here if you need anything. Also, I do not believe I can face Jessica right now, not after what she did."

"You should talk to her." Hana advised him. "You have to clear up your feelings before things go out of hand."

"I will." He planted a kiss on her forehead and got up. "Remember, if you need me, I will be outside."

Hana nodded and laid herself back on her bed. But once she was sure that Jin had left, she got up again and glared out her window. 'I can't let him get into trouble because of me.'

* * *

Jin sighed as he ran a hand over his face. He was not entirely sure why Hana was acting stiff towards but, he had a feeling that he would find out later.

"Jin?" A voice behind him snapped him out of his thoughts.

He turned around and was mildly surprise to see Muraku and Kageto standing there. "Muraku, what are you doing here?"

Muraku cast a glance at Kageto who nodded and walked a few meters away to give them some privacy. Once Kageto was out of ear shot, Muraku gave his brother a frown. "Did anything happen between you and Jessica?"

Jin looked at him quizzically. "We got into a slight argument earlier. Did something happen?"

"Kageto told me about what happened between you and Jessica. When Hikari came to the inn, she lashed out at her, blaming her for introducing Hana to you." Muraku explained.

Jin frowned and unconsciously clenched his fist. "How is Hikari?"

"She is a little shaken up. I had requested Ban and Arata to take her back to the forge."

Jin pinched the bridge of his nose of a moment as he tried to think of something. "I cannot go back to night because Hana is badly injured this morning. So, please do me a favour and make sure that Jessica does not leave the inn until I get back."

Muraku nodded and turned to Kageto. "We're leaving." He called.

Kageto nodded and pushed himself off the tree he was leaning on and followed Muraku back to town. Once they were out of sight, Jin let out a groan and sank to the ground. He was not expecting things to take a worst with Jessica.

* * *

"How do you think Muraku is doing, telling Jin about what Jessica did?" Vanessa wondered as she and Mikhail walked aimlessly around town.

"I can only hope for the best." Mikhail replied. "By the way, I heard that Muraku is planning to travel again once we are done here."

Vanessa visibly tensed for a moment. "Are you going to follow him too?"

"I have to." Mikhail said solemnly. "Muraku would want me to go with him."

Vanessa clenched and unclenched her fist. "I hope that you will have a good time then." She muttered softly and stormed off.

"Vanessa!" Mikhail called as he tried to get to her. He was confused on why his crush was acting like this.

* * *

Vanessa slumped down on the ground in the meadow the group had their lunch a few days ago. "Can't he even stay with me for a while?" She grumbled as she plucked at a few strands of grass.

"Vanessa?" Mikhail called as he walked towards her. "Is there anything troubling you?"

"That's a stupid question." Vanessa said sarcastically. "Of course there is!"

Mikhail flinched and sat down beside her. "You can tell me if you want."

"Why do you always leave me alone?" Vanessa whispered as a tear rolled down her cheek.

Mikhail was taken aback. Vanessa never cried! "Vanessa, what's the matter?"

"What's the matter?! I went against my parent's wishes for me to leave the palace all just to be with Muraku, Kageto, Hikari and especially you!" She ranted. "And yet, all you ever do is leaved me alone to travel with Muraku!"

Mikhail frowned in confusion and took her face in his hands. "Vanessa, calm down and slow explain."

"You'll never understand!" Vanessa cried as she jerked away from his grasp. "All you ever care about is travelling around with Muraku!" She quickly got up and ran back towards the inn.

"Vanessa, wait!" Mikhail grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him. "I'm sorry if I'm insensitive to your feelings. But whenever Muraku and I go travelling, all I can ever think of is you."

Vanessa froze and pulled away from him. "What...?"

"Vanessa, no matter how far we travelled, no matter who we met, all I ever wanted by my side was you." Mikhail whispered as he cupped Vanessa's chin in his hands and pressed his forehead onto hers. "I love you."

Vanessa gasped and wrapped her hands tightly around Mikhail's arms. "I-I love you too. Please don't leave me alone."

Mikhail's grip tightened. "I tell you what; I'll ask Muraku if you can come with us too, so that you won't be lonely."

Vanessa's gave him a watery smile and leaned onto him. "Thanks."

Mikhail hesitated a while and kissed her forehead. "We better head back now."

"Must we?" Vanessa frowned. "I want to stay here with you a bit longer."

"There will be more time in the future for this." Mikhail promised her. "Come on." He held her hand and led her back to the inn.

Vanessa hid a smile as Mikhail said something that made her heart soar.

"I love you and I'm yours forever."

* * *

**Ok, Vanessa and Mikhail are rather occ when they are in love. Please review and tell me how is it. I'm getting a bit discouraged from the lack of response for all my fics. **


	18. Chapter 17

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

Takeru growled as he gave Hikari a cup of water to drink. "When Muraku comes back here, I will give him a piece of my mind! How dare he send you back in this state!"

"Takeru, please don't." Hikari told him. "It was not his fault that I was slapped by Jessica. We just showed up at the wrong time."

"But not only did he let you come back worse than you were before you left, he could not bring you back himself and had Ban and Arata to do so." Takeru protested.

"Alright, Takeru." Ban placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "That's enough. Hikari is back here and she's alright. Let it slide for now."

Takeru sighed. "Alright, but only because you asked me to. Hikari, you should go and rest now."

Hikari frowned but nodded, sensing that Takeru has something to tell Ban. "Alright. I'll see you guys later, Ban, Arata."

Arata grinned. "Sure."

Once Hikari was upstairs, Ban addressed Takeru, "Takeru, is there anything you want to tell me?"

Takeru grinned and nodded. "Yup, your sword is ready. Give me a moment to get it."

He went into the backroom, ignoring Ban and Arata's curious stares.

* * *

A few minutes later, he returned with Ban's sword in hand. "Sorry it took so long, but I couldn't find it for a moment."

"That's alright." Ban told him. Takeru smiled and tapped the handle. "I think you would find it easier to _handle _it now."

Ban smiled and took it. "Alright. Thanks." He winked to show that he got Takeru's hint. "Here." He gave Takeru some coins.

"Thank you for your business." Takeru bowed and led them out. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

* * *

Hana took a deep breath peaked out of the window. Just as she suspected, Jin was still outside but Muraku was with him too. 'He should not come back in anytime sooner.' She felt her eyes dropping every now and then and rested her head on her pillow. 'A little rest wouldn't hurt.'

When Jin came up, he observed her for a moment and sat down at the side of the bed. 'She looks very peaceful when she is sleeping.' He brushed some of her bangs away and gently traced his fingers along her jaw line, making her shift a bit in response.

Jin chuckled and shook his head. How he managed to stay in love with her despite her part of Aidara was beyond him.

"Jin?" Hana slowly stirred and sat up. "I thought you were outside."

"I came back in here to check on you."He explained. "How is your shoulder?"

Hana gently rolled her shoulders and winced. "Still a bit sore."

Jin frowned and lowered his head. "I am sorry. If I was more alert, I would not have let Jessica kiss me and you would not have gotten hurt."

"It's all in the past." Hana told him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Besides, I probably hurt you more than you did." She said and lowered her eyes. "I only agreed to help you in the beginning to send you on a wild goose chase. But now…"

"I knew that there was something suspicious about you then, but did not push it." He sighed.

"So I guess we are even now." Hana said, trying to lighten up the mood.

A tiny smirk formed on Jin's lips. "I guess we are. I can't believe how things turned out in the end."

"Oh, is the prince being informal now?" Hana asked teasingly. But she frowned when Jin became silent.

"Hana, can you not refer me as a prince? I do not like to be called one."

She looked at him in surprise. "But your grandfather is the king…"

"I was adopted." Jin cut in. "About eight years ago, he adopted me and took Yuuya into the palace after our parents died in the Laruos Bridge Collapse incident."

Hana gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. "Jin…I'm sorry, I didn't know…"

"It is alright. I got over it a long time ago." He waved it off. "Anyway, grandfather made Yuuya my bodyguard and adopted Muraku not too long after that."

"I see." Hana said somberly.

"To be honest, I do not really like being a prince because people do not see me as I am, but as Yoshimitsu Kaidou's grandson and heir to the throne." He took Hana's hands in his and squeezed them. "You are the first person to treat me like everyone else in a long time. I guess that is why I am attracted to you in the first place."

Hana observed him for a moment. "Did your parents love you?"

Jin looked at her in surprise at her question. "Yes, they did."

"Then you could be considered lucky. Many parents in the area I was from had to sell their children to be slaves or prostitutes all just for a few coins without caring about what happens to their children after that."

Jin's mouth fell open. "How could they even do that to their own flesh and blood?"

Hana's eyes darkened and she stared ahead. "I don't know. My parents were one of the heartless parents. They sold me off to be a slave when I was ten."

Jin shot up at that. "I am sorry."

Hana clenched her teeth. "Don't be. I'm glad to get away from them anyway. They were not the nicest parents even before they sold me. But over the years, I was sold around with a new master each time. I could not take it anymore, so I tried to run away but my last master caught me and punished me badly. The next day, he just dragged me out in to the forest and wanted to rape me."

Jin clenched his fist but kept quiet as Hana continued. "Luckily, someone from Aidara saw us and killed that bastard before he could do anything to me. The person who saved me was Aidara's leader. He took me in and gave me the protection I needed."

"Is that why you wanted to rebel against my grandfather?" Jin asked in a small voice.

"I would have even if I did not join Aidara, if that's what you are asking." Hana said. "Because of my past, I came to hate everyone in the outside world. But Aidara showed me how to trust people again. I owe them more than you can imagine."

"But why did you listen to them to lie to me?" He demanded.

Hana pursed her lips and shook her head. "It is something neither you nor your grandfather will understand. I hate owning people, that's why I would willingly do anything for them. Everyone in there share the same sentiments as I did."

"So you are only with them because you feel like you are obligated to repay your debt." It was more of a statement than a question.

Hana narrowed her eyes. "My leader never forced us to join against our will. He gave us the choice to stay with him or leave. He even did not want me to stay because of that, but it was my choice, not because I feel obligated to repay my debt as you put it."

Jin was taken aback by her words. Not once did she speak to him like that before. He stared at her for a few seconds before he lowered his eyes. "I am sorry. But my grandfather always told me that Aidara was a cruel organization who did not care for the lives of anyone."

'Says the one who cold-bloodedly killed King Junichirou and Queen Marie.' Hana thought before saying to Jin, "I wouldn't assume everything that he says is true if I were you."

"…There are times that I do doubt his plans and ideals." Jin admitted. "Sometimes I even think that he is the antagonist instead of Aidara."

Hana's eyes softened and she cupped his face in her hands, making him look at her. "Don't let him dictate who you should be and how you should think. Let you and only you determine who you are. You are Jin Kaidou, and that's who you are."

Jin slowly nodded at her words. "I know." He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his forehead on hers. "Thank you. I love you." He tilted his head and pressed his lips on to Hana's softly.

Hana smiled and kissed back just as softly. "You're welcome. I love you too." She whispered into his lips.

* * *

**I'm soooooooooo tired. Five hours of studying this afternoon and not getting enough rest these days is getting to me. Don't expect a lot of updates from now on. I'm having a major exam in October and November, so my only free day is Saturday. But, things will speed up by the end of November. In fact, I'm thinking of finishing this story first before continuing on the others. What do you think?**


	19. Chapter 18

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

"Oh come on!" Arata groaned as he tried to seek out his brother in the midst of the throngs of people. "How in the world did I lose Ban in the crowd?!" He continued to scan the crowd while standing on his toes. Finally he gave up. "How am I supposed to find him?"

"Arata, is that you?"

Arata jolted up and spun around. "Muraku!" He ran over to the other teen and grabbed his arm. "Please tell me you saw Ban somewhere here! I can't find him at all."

Muraku had to hide the amused smile as he nodded. "As a matter of fact, I did. In fact, I had Kageto bring him back to the inn a few minutes ago with Vanessa and Mikhail when we bumped into them earlier."

Arata sighed in relief as he let go of Muraku's arm and they started walking back to the inn. "Thank goodness. I thought for a moment that Ban's bad sense of directions would lead him somewhere as far as Odela, literally!"

Muraku chuckled softly. "I see."

Arata sighed. "Sometimes I wonder how I am the younger brother. Older brothers are supposed to worry about their younger siblings, not the other way around."

"I think I can relate to that." Muraku said in agreement. "There are many times I worry about Jin whenever he goes to the forest. Sometimes I am afraid that something bad would happen to him."

"But," Arata smiled. "He's a good brother all the same. I can't imagine what would happen if he isn't here in my life."

Muraku looked at him curiously. "How so?"

"Our parents died when we were young, so basically, we relied on each other to survive." Arata told him plainly without any emotion. But there was a degree of sadness in his eyes that Muraku recognized.

"Souka." He said quietly. "I had been through that too. My parents died when I was a boy so I had to live on the streets for months before Jin found me one day and convinced our grandfather to adopt me."

Arata looked at him in surprise. He never knew that Muraku was adopted and that means…

'He's not biologically related to Kaidou Yoshimitsu.' Arata realized. He glanced over at Muraku and began to see him in a different light. He may be a prince but he did not act how Kaidou Yoshimitsu would. Not to mention, he could see that Muraku was like him in some ways.

'I think I understand now why Ban wants to befriend them.' He smiled.

"Arata, what do you think of the king?" Muraku suddenly asked.

Arata's brow creased into a frown. "I believe questions like that are best left unanswered and not asked at all." He walked ahead to avoid looking at Muraku, knowing that he was glaring at him suspiciously. Arata had to smirk at his intelligence. Muraku was not one to be easily fooled, that's for certain.

However it faded when he saw Hikari wandering around anxiously as though she was looking for someone.

Her face lighted up when she saw him but morphed into horror when she spotted Muraku beside him. She looked into Arata's eyes frantically and gestured to the alley behind one of the buildings and slipped away.

Arata frowned and looked and Muraku who was, thankfully, distracted by the soldiers who were entering Bishop's office but when he followed the other teen's gaze, he gasped. In between them was a boy with blond hair with chains on his feet and hands. His face and body looked beaten up and when he turned to them, Arata could see his face clearly.

'Takeru!' His eyes became wide in horror. Making sure that Muraku was not watching him, he quietly slipped away to the alley where Hikari had indicated earlier.

"Hikari." He whispered loudly. Not too long after that Hikari slipped out of the shadows and hugged him tightly, sobbing into his shoulder. Arata let her for a while and gripped her arm to support her. "Hikari, calm down and tell me what happened. Why was Takeru captured?"

Hikari's lips quivered. "I don't know. But I think it has something to do with a scroll that someone from Wecasta gave him. It turns out, the mayor's spies were following the man when he went to Takeru's place and they had heard him giving Takeru a scroll and that Takeru is from Aidara."

Arata's grip on her arms tightened. "What happened?"

"The soldiers had surrounded the place and took him by surprise. He only had time to get me out the back door before he was captured himself." Hikari tearfully told him. "Arata, we have to save him."

"I know." Arata tried to reassure her. "But we have to tell Ban about this. Hana may be in danger too. By the way, did they find the scroll?"

Hikari shook her head. "No, but they did find the map that Ban gave us of the false base. From what I heard, they are going to send Takeru to the palace tomorrow and go back to the place indicated on the map with reinforcements from the king."

"Then they are going to have to be disappointed then." Arata said grimly. "Go to Hana and have her wait at the forest gate for me and Ban. I'll go and get him. Hopefully he would have an idea of what to do. Oh, and no matter what happens, avoid the princes and keep going."

Hikari nodded and slipped out of the alley. Neither of them noticed someone watching them from afar and slipping off after Hikari.

* * *

As soon as Hikari left the alley, she started running to Hana's cottage but remembered that Jin would be there and froze. How can she warn Hana about Bishop when Jin will be there? As she was lost in thought, she did not notice a soldier spotting her.

"There she is!"

Hikari snapped out of her thoughts and continued running. Thankfully Ban and Kazu had trained them to run fast should they be in danger. As she dodged around people and stalls nearby and she heard the soldiers catching up with her. Without looking behind, she continued to push on further but was beginning to feel exhausted.

Ahead of her she saw a corner which she knew she could at least try to escape the soldiers. It was not the most original plan, but Hikari was running out of options. As soon as she turned into the corner, she slipped into another alley just to her right and pressed herself closely to the wall. Just as she thought, the soldiers had dumbly run past her down the road without giving the alley much of a second glance.

As soon as she was sure that the soldiers were gone, she cautiously poked her head out to check if there was more and felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped and pulled away but the person was stronger and pulled her back into the alley, slamming her on the wall with one hand covering her mouth and the other across her throat.

Hikari struggled, trying to escape her assailant's grip but it only cause him or her to pushed his hand harder around her throat and the lack of oxygen was getting to her. Just when she felt like an eternity, the person holding her finally released her, letting her fall to the ground. Just before she blacked out, she saw a pair of familiar purple-yellow eyes staring into hers.

"Muraku…" And Hikari scrummed into darkness.


	20. Chapter 19

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

Muraku did not know how long he was following Hikari, but he was sure that it was probably an hour. He still could not believe that she, out of all people, was the spy from Aidara. Just a few days ago Jin had warned him that there might be someone sneaking information to Aidara. Also Arata…he was part of Aidara too…and to think he thought him as a friend.

He looked down at Hikari's unconscious figure and a pang of guilt hit his heart. He never expected himself to lose his temper and hurt her.

'But she lied to you. Not to mention, she could kill you anytime.' A small voice in his mind told him. He could not help but agree with the voice. Strangely, it sounded a lot like his grandfather. A moan snapped him out of his thoughts and he returned his attention back to Hikari who was slowly pushing herself up.

She raised her head and looked at him in the eye. For a moment, Muraku could have sworn that he saw regret and guilt in there, but he shook his head. 'There is no way anyone from Aidara would ever feel that way.'

"Muraku…I…I'm sorry." Hikari rasped out. This made him taken aback but something told him not to believe her. He grabbed her by the upper arm and hauled her up roughly.

"Give me one good reason why I should believe you." He snarled.

Hikari stared straight into his eyes. "I cannot think of one, nor did I expect you to believe in me again."

"Why?" He asked in a quiet voice. "Why did you lie to us? And why do you want to kill grandfather?"

Hikari stared at him in shock of his last question but smirked all the same. "I guess Kaidou has been busy telling you lies. What a hypocrite."

Muraku jerked at her arm sharply, making her gasp in pain. "What do you mean!?" He hissed.

"You're grandfather is nothing but a liar and a murderer that's what." Hikari spoke with contempt and scorn in her voice. "What we want to do is to over throne him. If you really believe our leader wants him dead, he would have been a long time ago."

"And I will ask you again, why should I believe you?" Muraku snarled back.

"You asked me and I answered." Hikari said nonchalantly. "You certainly cannot blame me for hating your grandfather, not when he killed my mother personally."

Muraku narrowed his eyes. "What…"

Hikari's gaze fell and she jerked her arm away from his grasp. "You would never understand what it feels like. To be left alone because you had to flee the only home you knew and never see your mother again." She said darkly. "All of my friends in Aidara had suffered the same fate. That's why we want justice on your grandfather, if you can call him that."

Before Muraku could react, he felt something cold and sharp on his neck. It turns out that Hikari had slipped out her dagger without him noticing when they were talking and was now holding it at his neck.

"I hate to do this to you, Muraku." She whispered. "But if anything, my mission will always come first, regardless of what I feel for you. I'm sorry." With that, in a swift movement, she slammed the back of the handle into the side of his head, knocking him out cold.

Without looking back, Hikari quietly slipped her dagger back into its sheath and made her way down the streets to Hana's cottage.

* * *

It took a while, but Muraku finally regained conscious. He soon realized that Hikari was no longer in the alley.

"She must have escaped." He muttered to himself and leaned on the wall for support. He achingly remembered the conversation he and his friends had that day. Takeru was indeed part of Aidara, Hikari had lied about her whereabouts…the mud on her boots…Wait!

Muraku looked down at his boots and saw that they were muddy. 'Of course! Hikari lied because she was not at the market but at Kayagi Hana's place! The area surrounding the cottage is very muddy. That's why there was mud on her boots!'

Another thought occurred to him. 'If that's so, then it would mean that Kayagi Hana is part of Aidara too! Jin!' Realizing the potential danger his brother could be in, he quickly pushed himself from the wall and started running towards the direction of the outskirts of the town, ignoring the pounding headache caused by Hikari's blow.

* * *

Hikari wondered for the hundredth time what should she do about Hana and Jin. Although Hana had told her that she intended to tell Jin her associations with Aidara, Hikari could not help but wonder if she did not tell if, she would be exposing not only her identity to Jin, but Hana's too.

As she neared the cottage, she shuddered involuntarily and carefully went up to the door and tapped on it. In just a few seconds, the door opened and much to her surprise, it was Jin who answered the door.

"Oh, Hikari." Jin greeted and opened the door wider. "What brings you here?"

Hikari shifted nervously on her feet. "Can I come in? I need to talk to you about something."

Jin raised an eyebrow but opened the door wider for her to enter. "Sure. Hana is resting now because she got injured this afternoon."

This got Hikari worried and she could not decide now whether to knock out Jin and get Hana or just lie that Muraku or someone needed him. Jin seemed to pick up on her hesitation and sighed. "Hikari, if you want to talk to Hana privately, then just say so."

Hikari looked at him startled and shook her head. "I…I…"

"She's expecting you and wants to talk to you." Jin explained. "I have a hunch on what it is about though."

Hikari did not dare to meet his eyes and only nodded at him. "Thanks."

When Hikari saw Hana lying on the bed, her heart sank at the look Hana was giving her.

"We've been found out?" She asked blankly.

Hikari nodded and gingerly took a few steps to her injured friend. "Takeru is arrested and Arata wants all of us to gather at the forest gate."

Hana sighed sadly and placed a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "Go there first. There's something I have to do here."

Hikari nodded in understanding and quietly left the room, not looking at Jin when he brushed past her. He could see that there was an air of sadness looming around her but chose not to say anything. Instead he turned his attention to Hana who was looking out the window. "Is everything alright?"

Hana did not look at him as she answered, "No, we have been found out and I have been called back."

"…Souka." Jin went up to her and squeezed her hand. "If you need to go, then go. We're still on different sides and we need to keep it that way."

Hana tore her gaze from the window and sighed in resignation. "I know." She pushed of the covers and got up. "I need to change. Wait for me at the door."

* * *

A few minutes later, Hana came down wearing a black long sleeve top with her favorite black scarf around her neck, and a pair of brown pants. Her hair was pulled to the back in a ponytail with a brown ribbon with her bangs swept to the right.

"Jin." She took his hand in hers and held on tightly. "Can you promise me something?"

"Anything."

"Please take care of yourself and don't worry about me." Hana said. "I have a bad feeling that something is going to happen and someone will get hurt."

"I promise." Jin said and kissed her. "Take care of yourself too."

Hana nodded and brought up her hand behind him. "I'm sorry." She sharply hit Jin's head which made him slump forward. "If anyone comes to find you, it is best that they do not know what happened between us."

She carefully set him on the floor and took one last look around her cottage and exited the door.

* * *

**Dramatic? Well, I was hoping it to be.**

**I have some bad news though. Starting from October, I will on hiatus until November, when my exams are over. By then, as promise, I will post the story I was working on in my spare time. And please vote on the poll on my profile.**


	21. Chapter 20

**I do not own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS**

* * *

"Now, are you ready to talk?" Bishop sneered at the withering form of Takeru in front of him. So far, none of their interrogation tactics were working on him. He would either resist or ignore them.

"You know that I won't say anything nor will I answer your questions." Takeru snorted defiantly, tugging on his bonds. "I don't care if you try to kill me. You can't get anything from me dead or alive."

"We shall see about that." Bishop muttered then spoke loudly, "None of that will matter once we get our hands on that girl homing with you. She must be from Aidara too to be that close to you. I'm sure that she would be more willing to provide information than you are."

"I'm afraid you are going to be sorely mistaken if you think that Hikari will break that easily." Takeru snapped though inwardly worried for his friend.

Bishop smirked and leaned in closer. "But the question is will you break down for her?"

Takeru snapped his head up with a heated glare. "I swear if you even lay a finger on her, my friends from Aidara will never let it pass them and make you suffer the rest of your life!"

"Oh, will they?" Bishop asked with mock amusement. "I would like to see them try. They will never win. That is why the Kaidou Empire is standing so strong after all these years!"

"Yeah right. All I can see is a corrupted king and his officials who are equally corrupted as he is." Takeru scoffed.

Bishop glared at him and backhanded him. "That is for your insolence!" This time, he drew back his hand and punched him. "And this is for all the times you humiliated me!"

Takeru let out a strangled laugh. "You have no idea how much I want to do that to you when I am free of these ropes."

"Continue dreaming, but in the end, you will still be executed by the king." Bishop growled. "Take him away." He ordered the guards. Each of them grabbed him by the arms and brought him back to the dungeons.

'That wasn't so bad.' Takeru thought to himself smugly when the guards dumped him back into the cell they were holding him in. 'But Hikari…'

He frowned as he slid down the wall. 'Please be safe.'

* * *

"Jin!" Muraku shook his brother awake. When he came here, he was horrified to find Jin sprawled on the floor unconscious. But upon closer inspection, he found out that he was not injured.

"Ah!" Jin gasped as his eyes shot open. "What happened?"

"I don't know. But I think Hikari and Kayagi Hana are part of Aidara and one of them had knocked you out." His brother quickly explained.

Jin gently touched the back of his head where Hana had knocked and squeezed his eyes shut. "Is there anyone here?"

"No." Muraku shook his head. "Also, Takeru, the blacksmith, has been arrested because the mayor found out that he is from Aidara. Ban and Arata…I found out that they are from Aidara too, and potentially, the leaders."

Jin's eyes snapped open. "I knew it."

Muraku furrowed his brow in confusion. "What?"

"Something has been nagging at the back of my mind ever since I met Ban and Arata." Jin slowly explained. "When I first saw them in the forest, Arata immediately knew that I was not from Aidara. How could he have know it when he has never meet me before?"

Muraku frowned and got up. "We should go see Bishop. They are planning to bring Takeru to the palace tomorrow."

Jin slowly stood up and reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, we should."

"Is anything the matter?" Muraku asked his brother and looked at him closely.

Jin shook his head. "No." He took one last look around the cottage and followed Muraku out.

* * *

Hikari soon arrived at the designated point and sighed. She was the first one to arrive and no one else was in sight. 'It's highly unlikely that they know who Ban and Arata are yet and Hana is probably on the way.'

She sighed again and slid down the tree next to her. Her worst fears had come true. They had been found out and Takeru has been arrested. Now they have to flee. And worst, Muraku hates her. A tear escaped her eyes when she remembered the angry and hate in his eyes. One thing she did not want was to lie to Muraku and the others but her position did not permit it.

"Why must I do this to them?" She whispered to herself.

"Hikari?"

Hikari jumped violently and jerked around.

"Hikari, it's us." Arata quickly held his hands up to hold her steady. Hikari jerked her head up and saw that it was only Arata and Ban. She let out a shaky sigh of relief.

"Ban, Arata."

"Hikari, are you alright?" Ban asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm just a bit shaken." Hikari quickly assured him.

"Given today's events, it's not surprising that you are." Arata remarked and looked around for Hana. "Where is Hana?"

"Right here."

They spun around and saw her holding her bow and quiver. "Sorry I took so long. I needed to get my bow and arrows."

"Ban, do you still have your sword?" Hikari weakly asked.

He nodded and showed it to her. "Don't worry, I know that Takeru hid something in it, that's why I'm not going to let it out of my sight. Now let's go back."

They nodded and followed him back into the inner parts of the forest.

* * *

"Muraku, do you want to go back to the inn first while I talk to Bishop?" Jin suggested to his brother as they approached Bishop's office.

"No. I have a few questions for Takeru myself." Muraku told him firmly. Jin considered it for a moment and nodded.

"Alright, but only for a few minutes."

* * *

Bishop led Jin and Muraku down to the dungeon as requested. "He's not responsive. So far we haven't been able to get anything out of him."

"We would like to try though." Jin told him. "Although I have a few questions about the capture…"

While Jin engaged Bishop in a discussion, Muraku went over to Takeru's cell. He was lying on a pile of straw in a corner but not exactly sleeping. Muraku tapped the bars to get his attention, stirring him.

"What do you want now?" Takeru groaned, thinking that Bishop had returned for another interrogation session. "I told you already you won't get anything…" He trailed off when he realized that it was Muraku. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"

"What is Hikari's motif for working at the palace?" Muraku asked getting straight to the point.

"I thought you know the answer yourself." Takeru said, lying back down on the straw.

"I want to hear it from your own mouth."

This made Takeru sit up again. After a few tensed seconds, Takeru finally spoke. "I believe she was asked to spy on you. I'm only acting as the middle man for her and our leader."

This caught Muraku's attention. "What do you mean 'you believe'?"

Takeru shrugged. "Our leader gathered some of the members who are involved in a certain incident to give Hikari her task while those who were not were told not to approach the room they were conferencing. I think he gave her more than the task of spying on you."

"And why are you telling me this?" Muraku asked suspiciously.

"Well, you asked so I answered." Takeru shrugged his shoulders. "I imagine that Hikari told you the same thing, judging by your expression."

Muraku unconsciously clenched the bars of the cell and glared at him. "What is your relationship with her?"

Takeru raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I thought you hated her. Why are you so worked up?"

"Just answer the question." Muraku said curtly.

Takeru eyed him carefully. "I've known Hikari for five years now. And in those years, I always had a crush on her. But she only sees me as a brother like figure. You should feel lucky that she likes you. Hikari is the most gentle and kindest person I've met and the only person in Aidara who would think twice about killing a fly."

They fell into an awkward silence until Jin came over. "Are you done?"

"Yes." Muraku breathe out. "We can go now." He gave Takeru one last look and followed Jin out of the dungeons. "What are we going to do with him?"

"We are going back to the palace with them tomorrow when they deliver Takeru to grandfather." Jin told him softly. "Tell the others to pack up. We will leave at dawn."

* * *

**Note: This will be the last update for a while until November or December. All my other stories will be halted to from now onwards till December.**


	22. Chapter 21

**I don't own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS.**

**Adviced not to read while eating anything because of death scenes.**

* * *

Hikari tossed around in her bed in her tree house for the hundredth time and finally got up. Earlier, they had returned to their hideout and were greeted with open arms. Of course, Asuka was very upset when she learned that Takeru has been arrested. After dinner, Arata and Ami had put together a plan to rescue their comrade which they will put into action tomorrow.

She quietly went out and made her way to her favorite patrol platform. Surrounding the area of the base are several patrol platforms for watch out purposes. But one can come here at night and observe the stars. Once she got there though, she gasped when she saw her twin brother there.

He turned around and smiled when he saw her. "I figured that you would come here tonight. Can't sleep?"

Hikari nodded and sat down beside him. "I'm nervous about tomorrow. I'm scared that we won't be on time to save Takeru, and afraid to see them again…and I have a bad feeling about tomorrow."

Hikaru jerked his head sharply at her. "Don't think about negativity now. We will rescue Takeru and he will be safe when we find him."

Hikari smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, but I tend to be inclined to believe in negative thoughts. Being in the palace with the constant fear of being found out did that."

Hikaru sighed and pulled her closer. "But you are here now. Although, I'm a bit upset that Arata is putting you in the middle of a possible fight."

"Hey, I'm just going to free Takeru while the rest of you are possibly fighting and then leave the scene with him unnoticed." Hikari protested. "Besides, I'll be fine. Gouda and Hana will make sure of that." She laid her head on his shoulder and smiled. "It has been too long since we've last done this."

"You mean worry about each other?" Hikaru joked.

"Looking at the stars together I mean." Hikari pouted. "I miss those times when mama would bring us to the room of the palace to see the stars."

Hikaru's face darkened and his grip on Hikari tightened slightly. "Go to bed, Hikari. You need to be at your best for tomorrow."

"…Alright." Hikari reluctantly pulled away and went back to her room. "Good night, nii-san."

* * *

The next morning, a whole possession of soldiers and the princes rode down the road back to the palace and Jin did not like it at all, not one bit.

Firstly, Takeru was too relaxed tied up in the wooden cage surrounded by numerous guards. Jin could not place a finger on it, but it was almost like he was where he wanted to be. Secondly, Jessica and him had not been on speaking terms since the incident and to be honest, he was missing her company. Lastly, he knew that Muraku was upset of Hikari's betrayal and it was bothering him.

But what worried him the most was that Bishop was leading them through the road path. Given the rumors he heard about the bandits on the path, he was certainly not comfortable with this.

"Jin." Jessica whispered as she rode closer to him. "I'm sorry for what I did yesterday."

"Are you?" Jin asked coldly.

Jessica quickly nodded. "Yes. I understand if you don't forgive me though."

Jin paused and avoided looking at her. "I'll think about it." He pushed his horse forward until he was beside the cage where Takeru was locked up in. He silently observed the boy and noticed that ever since they had started on the road path, he was rather uneasy and every once in a while he would flick his eyes around the area before landing on Jin for a few seconds and looking away.

After a few times of this, Jin became a bit curious as to his sudden change of mood and turned to the guards beside him. "Leave us, I have a few words I wish to have with him."

The guards shrugged and did as Jin told them. Once they were gone, Takeru gave him a knowing look. "You know that we are in danger."

Jin shifted uncomfortably in the saddle. "How many bandits are there on this road usually?"

"Countless." Takeru said as he briefly flicked his eyes to the outcrop and back at Jin again. "And don't trust anyone if you truly want to live."

Jin looked surprise at that statement but before he could question it, an arrow shot out of nowhere and struck Vanessa's right shoulder joint, making her cry out in pain.

"Vanessa!" Muraku and Mikhail leapt off their horses and ran over to her. Vanessa was hunched over and clutching the shoulder that was hit. They helped her off her horse and almost instantly, arrows were being shot at the soldiers and at Bishop's body guards.

"Jin!" Yuuya leapt off his horse and shield him with his body while Mikhail did the same with Muraku and Vanessa. Jessica and Kageto on the other hand, jumped under the cage for protection. Strangely, none of the arrows managed to pierce through the cage so Takeru was safe. Yet, he was almost fearful of something. Soon, the area was littered with the bodies of the injured or dead soldiers.

When Jin dared to peak out, the entire area was surrounded by throngs of people dressed in black. He guessed that they were the bandits that Hikari and Hana warned them about.

"So nice that you should drop by." A voice made Jin and Muraku and everyone from the king's court shiver.

Jin jerked his head up and his suspicions were confirmed. The one who spoke was none other than one of the king's advisers. "Seredy Kriesler!"

"Oh my, if it isn't the princes." Seredy said with an amused smile. "And they have an Aidaran puppy with them."

"I resent that comment." Takeru muttered.

"Listen up, from now on, you are the prisoners of Bandit, the bandits of the Kaidou Empire!" Seredy declared.

Takeru resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "You guys are bandits and your name is Bandit. Real creative." He said sarcastically.

One of the surviving soldiers kicked the cage. "Quiet! Don't disrespect our leader!"

Jin and Muraku's eyes became wide at that. "What does he mean!?" Jin demanded.

"He means that we work for Seredy-sama." Bishop smirked. "But in order to successfully capture all of you, we have to remove the…interferences." He said as he stepped over the body of one of the dead soldiers.

"So the dead soldiers are the ones that do not know of your treachery." Muraku narrowed his eyes.

"Yes, exactly." Bishop nodded and narrowed his eyes at Takeru. "As soon as my men return with your leaders from your base, nothing will be in our way to take the throne from Yoshimitsu Kaidou."

Jin and Muraku tensed and contemplated on fighting their way out but the remaining soldiers had their weapons pointed at them and they were greatly outnumbered. Suddenly, several broke into the area with scared and fearful looks on their faces.

"Ah, it looks like my men are back." Bishop smirked, not noticing how nervous the men were. "Where are the leaders?"

"My lords," One of the men bowed and stuttered. "The thing is…there is no one in the base. Not a single soul. In fact, it doesn't look like anyone has ever lived there before."

Bishop's eyes bulged out in anger when he heard the report. "What!?" He roared.

"I bet you haven't found out that I purposely placed that map there for you to find the day you arrested me." Takeru said smuggled. "That 'base' which you found is in fact the base we built to mislead you. I must say, for someone who claims that he can take down Aidara with his bare hands, you are actually dumber than we give credit for. All bark and no bite."

"It looks like you are just as incompatible as I thought." Seredy narrowed his eyes. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Sir, I guaranty that I did not know that the map was a set up but if I'm sure that if I spread out my men, we can find them in no time." Bishop quickly said as he sensed what Seredy was about to do.

"There's no need for that." Seredy pulled out the sword of a nearby bandit. "If you have yet to get the answer out of that blacksmith, what makes you think you can find it? Also, I have no tolerance for people who are as useless as you are."

Before everyone's eyes, Seredy stabbed the sword through Bishop's stomach, killing him on the spot. He handed the sword back to the bandit and addressed the remaining guards who had terrified looks as to what he had done to Bishop. "Capture the princes. Later we will send our demands to the king with them as the hostages! As for the Aidaran puppy, we will execute him tonight!"

The soldiers saluted and inched closer to the princes. Suddenly, the bodies of archers which were hiding in the outcrop dropped down with arrows sticking out of their back.

"What the-?" Seredy gasped and turned his glare at the trees above the outcrop. "Aidara is here to save their puppy huh? Don't let them get away with him!"

Some of the soldiers and bandits spread out to find them, leaving only a few soldiers to guard the princes and Takeru. Jin looked at the arrows sticking out of the backs of the archers and realized that they are the same ones which Hana uses. This gave him some hope.

"Muraku." He whispered. "Once Aidara attacks, we can take the chance and escape from here."

Muraku slowly nodded as he scanned the area. Most of the bandits have left to search for the rebels so the soldiers were the only ones remaining but they were still greatly outnumbered. With the chaos of Aidara attacking, they may stand a chance to escape.

A yell from the side made them jerk their heads there to see two people wearing brown cloaks and hoods covering their faces rushing towards them. In the hands of one of them was a sword while in the other one was a spear.

"In the name of Aidara and the kingdom of Aradia, surrender!" The one with the spear cried pointing the tip of the spear at Seredy.


	23. Chapter 22

**I don't own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS.**

**Adviced not to read while eating anything because of death scenes.**

* * *

"In the name of Aidara and the kingdom of Aradia, surrender!" The one with the spear cried pointing the tip of the spear at Seredy. From the sounds of it, Jin judged that it was a man around his age.

Seredy raised an eyebrow. "It looks like they have come. Get them!"

The remaining soldiers ran at them but four more people with cloaks covering their faces jumped out from the trees. Each of them had a weapon ranging from daggers to spears to swords. They attacked the soldiers from the sides and the first two cloaked figures jumped in to join in the fight.

"Now is our chance." Muraku whispered to Jin.

Jin nodded and pulled Muraku and Kageto to the latter's horse to retrieve their weapons. "It would be best that we bring them along." Kageto nodded and handed them their respective weapons before giving Yuuya his own.

"Mikhail, take care of Vanessa." Muraku ordered. Mikhail nodded and quietly helped Vanessa over to them, minding her injured shoulder. But half way there, one of the soldiers spotted them and realized that they were escaping.

"The prisoners are getting away!" He yelled to get the attention of the others. Mikhail reacted immediately and grabbed his sword out and stabbed him. But the others now know that they were getting away and broke away from fighting Aidara and attacked them.

"Oh no!" Jin quickly shoveled Jessica and Kageto back under the cage while Muraku and Yuuya fought off their attackers. Mikhail on the other hand was shielding Vanessa while defending himself.

"Change of plans!" The hooded man holding the spear yelled. "Fire!"

The arrows shot out from the tree line again but this time they shot Seredy in the arm and several soldiers. Muraku could not be certain but he was sure that the arrows did not kill them but only took them out.

"Now!" The hooded man yelled. Immediately, all of them attacked not only the soldiers but the princes too. In the mist of the chaos, neither group noticed Hikari carefully sneaking towards the cage where Takeru is held.

* * *

"Hana, do you think you can take out Seredy?" Gouda called and fire several arrows at the same time at two soldiers who are sneaking up on Hikaru. He and Hana were given the task of defending everyone from their hiding place in the tree bridges overlooking the area. And by now, most of the bandits have returned and the fight was getting intense.

"Not now. Ban told me to strictly focus on covering Hikari and Takeru." Hana called back as she poised her arrow and bow. "But once they are out of the way, then yes."

She caught Hikari's eye when she glanced up at the trees. Nodding at the blond girl, she gestured at the cage with her bow. Hikari got the message and crept to Takeru.

Once she was close enough, she hissed. "Takeru!"

Takeru looked over at Hikari and his eyes became wide. "You shouldn't be here!"

"I know." Hikari deadpanned. "But we need to get you out of there." She slipped out her dagger from her boots and cut through the ropes holding Takeru to the bars of the cage then moved to the other side to release him. Neither of them noticed Jessica sneaking up on the girl.

"Hikari!" One cloaked figure yelled a warning to the blond girl. Hikari jerked away in time just as Jessica lunged at her. She quickly twisted her body around and planted a kick straight at Jessica's chest, taking the older blond by surprise. Given Hikari's soft demure and her slightly frail appearance, no one would have guessed that she could take down an adult in a fist fight.

"Takeru, catch!" She tossed her dagger at Takeru's direction. Kageto jumped in attempt to catch it but Kazu tackled him away before his fingers could touch the hilt and it landed at Takeru's feet. He picked it up and began cutting away the ropes holding the door of the cage.

Meanwhile, Jessica and Kageto were trying to subdue Hikari with no results so far. She would either attack or someone would defend her in a way.

"I would recommend that you give up." Hikari warned them. "I'm trained for this but you are not."

"Who would have thought that you would be a traitor?" Jessica snarled. "And to think that we thought you as a friend!"

"I have a duty to fulfill and I won't hesitate to betray you if it means achieving it!" Hikari said firmly. The Hikari in front of them was completely different Hikari from the one they always knew. It showed in her actions, her words, and her aura.

"Hikari, stand down!" Muraku shouted as he got closer to the three of them. "You don't have to do this."

"I need to." Hikari retorted softly. "Like I said, my mission will always come first no matter what I feel for everyone of you!"

She glanced over at Takeru who successfully escaped and Arata was now by his side. They gave her a pleading look to flea immediately but Hikari stubbornly shook her head. Despite everything she told him, her guilt of betraying Muraku was so heavy on her shoulders that she would willingly allow him to kill her if it came to it.

* * *

"Why isn't she escaping!?" Gouda bellowed.

Hana frowned and looked closely at the girl. "I don't know. But I'm going down there! Cover me!"

"R-R-Right!"

Hana leapt over the rope railings of the bridge and landed smoothly. She took down two soldiers that were close and stabbed them in the hearts with her hunting knife. "You people are no better than the animals I hunt!"

Jin was the first one to spot her and see how she effortlessly took down the traitor soldiers with nothing more than a hunting knife. He realized that there was more than what meets the eyes when it came to Aidara.

"Jin!"

Jin snapped out of his musings at Yuuya's warning and fended off Asuka when she attacked him with her three headed spear. She quickly jumped away and fought off a random soldier. Jin began to see a pattern in their attacks. They would attack one person and back off to fight another. This way, they could weaken their enemies slowly but given their numbers and that everyone was fighting, they used the cover of chaos to quickly finish off their opponents. Somehow, the fight had brought him and Hana back to back.

"Weird that we would see each other again in these circumstances." Hana remarked dryly.

"Fate does have a way with us." Jin answered back just as dryly. "Whose side is Aidara on now? One moment you are attacking us, the next you are attacking Bandit."

"Against both. We have a natural agenda with you guys but Bandit has been harassing us for as long as I remember. In a way, we're hitting two birds with one stone." Hana explained while avoiding a soldier's sword that got too close.

Jin nodded and noticed that the ones from Aidara have taken off their hoods and he could see their faces. But curiously, he did not see Ban. "Where's Ban?"

"He's on an errand." Hana said evasively.

* * *

Just on the other side of the forest, Ban waited patiently on his horse for the final two members of Aidara to show up. He was not keen on the idea of leaving Ami alone at the base but was less keen to be out of the rescue mission…although, given the nature of most of them, they would probably be engaging the enemy instead of retreating after they had accomplished rescuing Takeru.

"Ban!"

Ban snapped his head up and grinned at the two people coming over also on horseback. "Hiro! Ran!"

"Ban, what happened?" Ran immediately asked. "On our way here, we heard that there is a fight going on at Bandit's territory."

"I'll explain on the way." Ban promised. "But we have to get to Wecasta as soon as possible."

"Wecasta?" Hiro's face screwed up in confusion. "Why?"

"The queen is asking for my presence." Ban explained. "Come on. We need to get to the gates before they close at sundown."

"But, why does the queen want to see you?" Ran wondered.

"I don't know." Ban admitted. "But if we can have her to help us, it will be a huge step to defeating Yoshimitsu Kaidou. Plus, she was my father's friend, so I'm sure that she would know something about him that can help us!"

Hiro and Rna exchanged grins and the trio had their horses set off, kicking dust behind them.


	24. Chapter 23

**I don't own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS.**

**Adviced not to read while eating anything because of death scenes.**

* * *

"Ban, the gates!" Hiro pointed at the tall structure which was the only entrance and exit of the entire kingdom. Surprisingly, there was a possession of soldiers and nobles. The flags and banners showed that they were from Odela. The possession was so large that it was impossible for them to even get pass the gates.

"Great, what do we do now?" Ran groaned. "We can't get pass the gates."

Ban looked around and shook his head. "I don't see any other way around the gates…other than climbing up the wall."

"But we'll have to continue on foot from there." Ran pointed out. "By the way, does anyone find it strange that there are visitors from Odela at a time like this?"

"I remember now." Hiro snapped his fingers. "When I was at the tavern back in Jerin, I overheard some rumors from a few soldiers that the princess of Odela will be coming to the kingdom so that she can be betrothed to one of the prince to form an alliance between Odela and the Kaidou Empire."

"What!?" Ran yelled.

Ban nodded his head in thought. "I see, Kaidou knows that Wecasta will ally with us given that we support the old morals of my father and is trying to gain more allies to make Queen Renneton back off."

"Do you think it would work?" Hiro wondered.

"The queen was daring enough to deliver her message to Takeru." Ban mused. "I doubt that something like this would easily shake her. Besides, Wecasta is one of the leading kingdoms in terms of warfare here and has a lot of strong allies which are not allies of Kaidou by the way."

"That's reassuring."

"Oi, we still have to figure out how to get over this wall to get out of here." Ran reminded them.

"Right." Ban sighed.

* * *

Unbeknown to the group, the princess, Yuno Kashima was watching them for a while from her horse. She noted that they were looking at the gates and were exchanging frustrated looks every now and then.

"Yuno what are you looking at?" Her servant and best friend, Catherin asked her and followed her gaze. "What's going on with them?"

"I think they want to go pass the gates but cannot because we are blocking them." Yuno said softly. "Have Rondo bring them over."

"Yes your majesty." Catherin bowed and went over to the soldier Rondo to relay the princess' orders.

"Your highness, why are you asking them to come over?" Her bodyguard, Daiki Sendou asked. "They may be the rebels we were warned about for all we know."

"Do not worry. Even if they are the rebels, we outnumber them and I can trust you and the others to protect me." Yuno assured him.

"Glad to know that you have a lot of faith in us." Sendou scoffed. "But at the same time, would you please be more careful and cautious?"

"I will try." Yuno sighed and added under her breath. "But I doubt that it matters anyway. I would rather the rebels kidnapping me over being betrothed to some prince I don't know."

"I understand your sentiments Yuno." Kiyoka, another servant of hers, whispered to her having overheard what she said. "But you know that the king will not live it down for Odela and the people if you don't do this. You have a duty to fulfill to protect your people."

"I know." Yuno shook her head sadly. She straightened up as Ban, Hiro and Ran came closer. She pushed her horse towards them and greeted them with a smile. "Hello there. I am Princess Yuno Kashima of Odela."

Hearing that, Ban immediately bowed followed by Hiro and Ran. "It is a pleasure to meet you your highness. May I ask as to why you called us over?"

"I noticed that you were standing there and not moving at all." Yuno explained. "Could it be that you wish to go pass the gates?"

Ban exchanged looks with Ran and Hiro, unsure if he should tell the truth or not. He decided to give an honest answer. "Yes your highness. We were waiting for your possession to pass to leave."

"Are you in a hurry?" Yuno asked curiously.

"Not exactly." Ban lied.

Yuno saw through it and signaled Rondo over. "Tell the soldiers at the gates to make room for them to pass."

"Yes your majesty." Rondo bowed and went to complete her orders.

Ban's jaws dropped open. "Your highness, you do not need to do that for us. We can wait until everyone has passed."

But Yuno shook her head. "I insist that I must let the locals of the kingdoms to go first ahead of the visitors. For all I know, you have a right to go pass before us."

"Thank you so much your highness." Ban bowed again. "I hope that your kindness will be repaid one day."

"And I hope that you will reach your destination safely." Yuno bowed and went back to join her servants. Rondo came over and motioned Ban, Hiro and Ran to follow him.

* * *

"That went well." Hiro remarked once they were a good distance away from the gates.

"Yes, but it'll be tougher from here." Ban warned him. "There's a good amount of soldiers patrolling this area. We have to hurry and be careful."

"So Ban, I meant to ask this but would Kaidou invade Wecasta by now if he saw it as a threat?" Hiro asked as they rode on.

"Like I said before, Wecasta has very strong allies and their warfare system is second to none save Aradia back when the queen and my father were friends. Also, they have the advantage in terms of geographical location." Ban said with an amused smile. "Kaidou did not bother to check the surroundings of Wecasta before he engaged them, a proof of his arrogance and ignorance which cost him greatly. Wecasta is in fact located on a mountain ridge which has only one way to get to it which is a windy road up the mountain. Kaidou thought that he could route half his troops up the mountain through the caves in there while the other half went up the road but Wecasta turned it to their advantage."

"I can imagine what happened." Ran smirked. "Wecasta's soldiers easily defeated Kaidou's troops by moving around the mountain and engaged the ones on the road in all sides. Those in the cave would easily get lost and separated. All Wecasta's soldiers needed to do were to fight smaller groups."

"Yes." Ban nodded. "The caves are a maze and only Wecasta knows how to navigate through them. Also, their soldiers are specially trained to move around quickly in all sorts of terrains."

"Are we going through the road then?" Hiro asked.

"No." Ban shook his head. "The message that the queen gave me told me to go through the caves. She even gave me a map to get to the palace safely. All we need to do is give the guards the scroll and they will let us enter the palace."

"I see." Hiro mused. "If we go through the road, it would be bound to be guarded by Kaidou's soldiers to prevent anyone from getting there."

Ran thought for a moment and frowned. "Ban, you said earlier that the queen delivered her message to you through Takeru. Did anything happen to him because of that?"

Ban sighed. He knew that it would eventually come to this. "I'm afraid that Bishop's spies found out about it and arrested Takeru to obtain he scroll. Thankfully, he sneaked it to me by hiding it in the hilt of my sword when I gave it to him to be sharpened. In fact, if the queen did not ask for my presence, I would have joined the rest to rescue him."

Ran groaned. "You should have told us about this sooner. We could have gone and helped them."

"True, but I need you guys with me." Ban told her.

"He's right." Hiro added. "Besides, I believe we are needed with Ban more than with them."

"Fine." Ran groaned.

They stopped when Ban held up his hand. "This is it."

In front of them were a massive mountain and a few visible cave entrances on the side. Ban checked the map in his hand and nodded. "We have to go on foot from here. Come on."

"Ban wait." Hiro placed his hand on his friend's shoulder to stop him. "Why don't I take the lead? No offence, but I can read maps better than you can."

"He's right but your sense of direction sucks." Ran said beside him.

Ban sighed and handed him the map. "Fine, lead the way."

* * *

Back with Aidara and Bandit, things were not going smoothly for either side. Seredy decided that they were better off holding the princes hostage than fighting Aidara. "Men, capture the princes and retreat!"

Jin's eyes became wide and grabbed Muraku's arm. "We have to get out of here now!"

Muraku nodded and signaled Mikhail to get over to his side. Mikhail nodded back and carefully led Vanessa over to them. However, one soldier snuck on them from the back and raised his spear to plunge it into an unsuspecting Mikhail's back. But suddenly, a sword came out of nowhere and blocked the spear.

Mikhail and Vanessa spun around and were shocked to see Muraku protecting them. "Muraku!?"

"Hurry and get to Jin!" Muraku grunted and parried off the spear. "Go!"

"But what about you?" Vanessa asked worriedly.

"I will be fine, go!" Muraku quickly pushed them towards Jin's direction and reengaged the soldier.

Hikari watched them quietly from the corner she took cover in. Hikaru had been mad when he realized that she would not escape and told her to hide there for the time being. She watched as most of her friends began to pull back subtlety. This gave the soldiers more opportunities to hurt Muraku and Jin and their friends.

Hikari clenched her dagger tightly and gritted her teeth as she watched Muraku duel with the soldier. Knowing him, it was just what he would do to keep his friends safe.

"Muraku…you are very foolish." Hikari sighed and ran out towards Muraku. She dodged any attacks sent her way and used her dagger to stab the leg of the soldier that was about to land a blow on Muraku from behind, making him cry out in pain. Muraku turned around and stabbed him, killing him before his body hit the ground.

"Hikari?" Muraku looked at her suspiciously. "Why did you save me?"

"I didn't." She simply said. "I'm clearing a way to get out of here."

Muraku glared at her and held his sword to her neck. "What are you planning now?"

"Falling back." Hikari rolled her eyes. "We got what we wanted so we are leaving now."

"I find it hard to believe that you are being straightforward with your answers every time I ask you something." Muraku narrowed his eyes. Hikari held his gaze and took a step forward.

"Then for a change, can I ask you something? Why didn't you kill me after all this time?" Hikari asked.

Muraku's eyes widened slightly and gripped his sword tighter. "What do you mean?"

"You knew in your heart that I was not all that I seem." Hikari folded her arms. "You knew deep down that I would betray you soon enough."

Muraku's glare intensified as he realized that Hikari was right. He knew that she was not a simple girl looking for a job in the palace when she first came in. He knew that she was not entirely defenseless when he saved her from Kyosuke's flirting. Worst of all, he knew that Hikari was sending secret messages to someone outside of the palace and snooping in places she shouldn' didn't he do anything about it? The answer hit him like a rampaging horse.

"It seems that I'm not the only one who would put my feelings ahead of my duty." Muraku whispered. "If you really placed your feelings ahead of your duty, you would have left this place a long time ago."

Hikari's eyes softened and stepped away. "We may have the same thinking, but we have different duties and responsibilities. Unlike you however, I know when to pull away when needed."

Muraku lowered his eyes and lowered his sword. "What were you doing in the palace other than spying?"

Hikari closed her eyes. "That is a secret I will bring to the grave."

Muraku reached out to touch her but she suddenly gasped in pain. They looked down and saw a spear sticking out of her stomach. It pulled out and Hikari fell forward into Muraku's arms.

"Hikari!" Muraku cried.


	25. Chapter 24

**I don't own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS.**

* * *

Hikari gasped in pain as Muraku wrapped his arms protectively around her as her assailant drew back his spear to stab her again. But he never got his chance as Hana plunged her own blade into his heart. Her eyes met Muraku's and she dashed forward only for Jin to tackle her down.

"Muraku, get to safety!" He yelled.

"No! Get off me!" Hana thrashed about to push Jin off her. "Hikari!"

"Jin!" Muraku half stepped forward when someone roughly smashed the hilt of a dagger into the side of his head and grabbed Hikari's form to his chest before Muraku fell to the ground. Jin's eyes were wide in rage and attempted to jump at Muraku's attacker but Hana spun around and pulled him down.

"Hikaru, take Hikari and run!" Arata told him. Hikaru nodded and gently picked up his twin and ran back into the forest with Arata behind him.

"Hana, let go of me." Jin hissed. Hana glared at him but did as he just said. In response, Jin flipped her over and pinned her hands at her back. She desperately tried to free herself and looked around for her other friends but none of them were to be found.

'They must have already escaped. It doesn't matter now. We have Takeru but…I hope Hikari makes it.' She thought to herself as Jin hauled her to her feet and dragged her over to where Yuuya was still fighting. Mikhail crept over to Muraku and somehow managed to pull him to safety in the forest while avoiding Bandit.

"Yuuya, where are the rest?" Jin demanded.

"They have entered the forest. I doubt that Bandit will follow us inside." He informed him. Jin nodded and took out something from his pocket. Hana could not make it out clearly but she was sure that it was one of the smoke bombs she showed Jin how to make. Her suspicions were confirmed as he threw it on the ground, resulting in a puff of smoke covering the area, allowing them a clean getaway.

Seredy growled as the smoke dispersed revealing a lot of dead bandits and soldiers but no Aidara puppies or the princes. One of the surviving bandits carefully approached him. "My lord, what should we do?"

"We cannot let the princes inform the king of this!" He said with a glare. "Spread out block the roads to the palace! I'll head back to the palace and make sure they don't tell the king of this."

"Yes, my lord!"

* * *

"Where's Hana?" Gouda asked his friends as they climbed up the tree to the bridges.

"She was captured by the princes." Kazu said shortly. "Hikaru, take Hikari back and have Ami treat her. The rest of us will watch out for Bandit and the princes. Make the bird sound for Bandit and squirrel for the princes."

"Got it!"

Hikaru shifted Hikari so that she was in a more comfortable position and ran back to their hideout without a second thought. Once they arrived there, he ran over to Ami's tree house and barged in. "Ami, you have to help Hikari!"

Ami immediately stood up from her desk and motioned to the bed. "Lay her down there. I'm going to get my medical supplies. Try to stop the bleeding by applying pressure on it."

Hikaru nodded and pressed his cloak on the wound. "Hikari, why didn't you escape when I told you to?!" He mumbled as tears formed in his eyes. A touch on his hand made him jerk up. "Hikari?"

Hikari smiled weakly at her brother. "I'm sorry."

"What has gotten into you?" He demanded. "Why did you spare Muraku Kaidou when you had the chance to take him down!?"

Hikari's smile dropped and tears fell down her cheeks. "You have changed Hikaru-nii-san. I don't expect you to understand this, but I'm not like you."

Hikaru was speechless at her words. Ami then came in with a small box and pushed Hikaru out. "Wait outside."

Hikaru was too stun to protest and slumped against the door. He did not know how long he had sat there but a touch on his shoulder made him snap out of it. He looked up and his gaze harden at Arata. "What?"

"How long have she been in there?"

"I don't know!" Hikaru snapped. "It's your fault that she's in there now! If you hadn't place her in the fight, she would never would have gotten injured!"

Arata held his gaze for a while and lowered his head. "I regret sending her out the moment I even assigned her the task and I'm sorry."

"Then _why_?" Hikaru finally broke down. "Why her?"

Arata seemed to hesitate before answering. "She insisted it."

They stayed in silence until the door opened and Ami stepped out.

"How is she?" Hikaru asked.

Ami crouched down slightly so that she could look at Hikaru in the eye. "Hikaru, please promise Hikari this. No matter what happens to her after this, let her go."

Hikaru stared at her in an unfocused manner and gripped her arms tightly. "What happened to her?"

"Theoretically, she should be fine but for some reason, she's dying." Ami told him and stepped aside. "You can see her if you want."

Hikaru did not need to be told twice and ran to his twin's side. "Hikari?"

Hikari barely managed to crack her eyes open and smiled when she saw Hikaru. "Yes?"

"Why are you dying?" His voice quivered.

"I don't know myself." Hikari admitted. "But I haven't been well for a while now."

"Why you? You're all I have left." Hikaru held her hand tightly.

"That's not true."

Hikaru looked up at her words. Hikari tried to smile like she usually does but it came out as a small grimace. "You have Arata, Ban, Haruki, Ami, Kazu and Sakuya and everyone else. We may not have felt it, but we were always a family."

"I know." Hikaru blinked away his tears and rest his head on Hikari's arm. "I know."

* * *

"So what are we going to do with her?" Yuuya asked after he tied up Hana's hand behind a tree.

"We could leave her here and let her starve to death or be eaten up by animals." Jessica suggested with a slight smirk.

"I'm right here you know." Hana rolled her eyes. "Leaving me here could be your biggest mistake. In case you forgotten, the forest is our turf. You may be safe from Bandit for now, but you're still in enemy zone."

"As much as I hate to admit it, she's right. We have to turn her over to grandfather." Muraku sighed. "How's Vanessa?"

"She's asleep. Luckily there's no nerve damage to her shoulder." Jessica said curtly, still smarted from Hana's words.

"Let's get some rest." Yuuya suggested after a short pause. "Who will take the first guard?"

"I will."Jin volunteered. Everyone was too tired to be surprise or protest and laid down on the forest floor to get some sleep. Jin walked over to Hana and stood over her.

"What?" Hana asked in an irritated tone from being captured.

Jin said nothing but glanced back at his friends and made sure that they were really asleep and wrapped his arms around her and buried his head into the crook of her neck. "I miss you." He whispered huskily.

Hana's irritation died away at his words. "Why did you capture me?"

Jin pulled away and rested his forehead on hers. "Don't talk. I just want to be by your side."

"You don't have to do this." Hana looked at him with pleading eyes. "You don't have to be your grandfather's poster figure. Just leave him and the rebellion will not bother you anymore."

"You know that I cannot do that."

Hana pursed her lips. "Ban believed that you and your brother are more than mere puppets of your grandfather when the others did not. Prove to him that he's right, please."

"I don't see what he has to do with this." Jin said curtly although his grip on her tightened.

"Ban was the first person other than Hikari to believe that you do not have your grandfather's heart."

"I don't want to hear about him now." Jin slammed his fist into the tree trunk just inches away from her face. "Or Aidara. I just want to be with you."

"How is that possible when you are going to turn me to your grandfather and you know that he'll execute me for treason?" Hana hissed.

"I'll think of something." Jin promised.

"How can you when you are already conflicted inside?" She countered. "Don't think that I don't know about it. The reason you captured me is because you want to please your grandfather by presenting me to him, but at the same time, you don't want me to die. Like I said before, he _will_ execute me."

Jin sighed in frustration and pulled away. He knew Hana was right. But he could not do anything about it, could he?

* * *

Neither Jin nor Hana knew this, but Muraku had not fallen asleep like Jin initially thought. He stayed up and listened to their conversation and he had to admit that Hana had hit some hard truths about their grandfather. He was a liar, a dictator and worst of all a killer.

Muraku did not dare to mention this to Jin, but he had overheard his grandfather talking with Adviser Gardyne some time back and what he heard shook him to the core.

* * *

_"Really Gardyne, there's no need to worry about the remaining Yamanos. They will never be able to take the crown away from me." Yoshimitsu chided his adviser when he brought up his concerns about the remaining royal family._

_ "But they may be the ones leading the rebels, Aidara, for all we know." He replied with a frown. "After what you did to their parents, I wouldn't be surprised if they plan to go after your life."_

_ "I have no fears about that." Yoshimitsu smirked evilly. "Try as they might, they will not bring down everything I worked for years to achieve."_

_ "You killed the former king and queen to become ruler of Aradia. Who would not be angry and hate you for that?" Gardyne questioned before he realized his mistake. _

_ Yoshimitsu turned on him with a murderous glare. "Never mention them again, especially in front of Jin and Muraku, or I will have you executed for treason."_

_ "Y-yes, your highness."_

_ "Good." _

* * *

Muraku could still remember the intense hatred in Yoshimitsu's eyes. After that, he did not dare to look at him as he once did before. His grandfather had killed people in cold blood and had felt no remorse for it. Now as he listened to Jin and Hana, he fully understood now who are Aidara's leaders and why they did what they did.

'I have to tell Jin about this.' He thought to himself shakily. His thoughts then drifted back to Hikari. 'Is this what she meant all along?'

* * *

**Man, thinking this up is a whole lot more easier than to write it.**


	26. Chapter 25

**I don't own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS.**

* * *

Hikaru never left his sister's side for the whole duration of the night and refused to get some rest at both Ami and Arata's insistence. This may as well be the last time they would spend together and he wanted to be by her side for the rest of the night.

"Nii-san, you should get some sleep." Hikari croaked out. Her breath was getting labored and she could barely keep her eyes open. "I'm fine with what's happening to me."

"But I'm not." Hikaru wiped his tears away before continuing, "I think I understand now. Unlike me, you could never take away the life of someone whether they deserve it nor fail to see the good in people."

"Yoshimitsu Kaidou is an exception to this." Hikari chuckled shakily. "But I know that deep in them, Jin and Muraku are good people despite what everyone thinks. They show it in their actions, their thoughts and the way they treat their friends."

"I guess you got that trait from mom." Hikaru slowly shook his head. He took her hand and held on to it tightly. "Hikari, please tell me this. Do you like Muraku Kaidou, more than a friend I mean."

Hikari's face became crestfallen. "If I have to be honest, Muraku was one of the few people in the palace who treated me kindly. He never looked down at me just because I was another servant in the palace but saw me just as he saw Vanessa and Mikhail as his friends. Many other servants, other than Vanessa and Jessica, at that time, would bully me because of my soft demure and take advantage of it to make my life miserable. Had Muraku not put an end to it, I may have abandoned Ban's task to me and left. So, yes, I do like him like that."

Hikaru let out a breath he did not know that he was holding and shook his head in disappointment. "I don't understand why you have to have a crush on him. I'm sorry but my opinion on him will not change even though he was a good person to you. He is the reason why you are here now."

"No, it's not." Hikari shook her head. "It's my own carelessness' fault. I did not pay attention to my surroundings which is why I'm…"

Hikari suddenly started gasping and convulsing. Hikaru's eyes became wide and ran to the door. "Ami! Ami where are you!?"

* * *

Later at dawn, we see Hikaru pulling his legs closer to his body as tears ran down his cheeks. Ami had tried to save Hikari but it was futile.

Hikari had stopped breathing the moment she came back.

"Hey." Kazu sat down beside him. Like everyone else at the camp, he was shaken to the core by their youngest member's passing. "We've decided to wait until Ban, Hiro, and Ran come back and give her a funeral."

"She would want that." Hikaru said softly. "But she'll want Hana to be there too."

"I believe she'll understand why she's not here." Kazu sighed. "We still cannot find her or the princes yet."

"You're right." Hikaru buried his head in his hands. "When do you think they'll be back?"

"Probably tomorrow or the day after. But before they get back, we have to decide whether we should bury her or cremate her."

"We should go for the latter. We have no idea when we will have to leave this place." Hikaru said after some thought.

"I agree. I'll tell the others." Kazu got up and headed down to the clearing. "You should get some sleep."

Hikaru sighed, realizing that he was indeed exhausted from not getting enough rest after their clash with Bandit and not sleeping at all that night. He heard Hikari's voice in his head telling him to go to bed for a few hours and obeyed it.

* * *

"We've…finally…made it." Hiro panted out and collapsed on the ground followed by Ran and Ban. It had taken the whole of yesterday to navigate their way through the cave, save the short six hours of shut eye they had, but they had finally found their way out and were now facing of the gates of the kingdom of Wecasta.

"What are we waiting for?" Ran, who was the first to recover, jumped to her feet. "Come on!"

The boys reluctantly got to their feet and went over to one of the guards watching over the gates.

"State your business." He said gruffly.

"I am here to see Queen Claudia Renneton on official business with her." Ban stated in a business like tone and gave him the scroll as instructed by the queen.

The guard had been told to expect this and opened the scroll without question. When he was done, he nodded at them. "Come."

It did not take them long to reach the palace and were brought into the throne room.

"Wait here. The queen will see you shortly." The guard said and left.

Ban swept his eyes around the room and they landed on a portrait at one end of the room. Without thinking, he went closer to have a better look.

"Ban?" Hiro and Ran looked at him questioningly as they went to his side. Ban did not answer them but kept his gaze on the portrait.

"That portrait of your parents was done a few years before your brother was born." The queen said, coming out of another entrance.

"Your majesty." Ban quickly bowed, followed by Hiro and Ran. "Thank you for having us here."

Queen Renneton only smiled warmly at them. "It is finally good to see you again after all these years Ban. Your brother and his friends may not remember, but I used to watch them and you and your friends playing in your mother's garden whenever I visited your parents."

"I see." Ban said awkwardly. "May I ask as to why you invited me here?"

The queen nodded and gestured them to follow her as she led them around the palace. "You would never believe how happy and relief I was when I heard that you and your brother survived Kaidou's assault on the palace eight years ago. But at the same time, it could not stop the pain in my heart caused by your parent's murder."

"I know. It still hurts to remember." Ban said quietly.

"Tell me, how is your brother?" She enquired.

"He's fine. In fact, he's the strategist of Aidara."

The queen paused for a moment and looked at him closely. "I assume that you established Aidara to take back the throne?"

"Indeed." Ban nodded. "I could not stand the thought of Kaidou on the throne and undoing everything my father did for the people of Aradia."

"I know." Queen Renneton said quietly. "There were many times I came close to calling an invasion on the Kaidou Empire just to have revenge on the one who killed my friends. But that would have made me no better than him. That's why never did anything about it other than severing all connections to them."

"That may have been the best course of action." Takuya said as he joined them and addressed the queen and Ban, much to his surprise. "Your highness, young prince."

Ban shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "There is no need to call me prince. I no longer used that title after I fled the palace."

"That is not what we think." The queen turned around and addressed him sternly. "Just because you have been considered an outlaw by Kaidou, but you still have royalty in your blood, the king's blood. Therefore you and your brother will always be the princes of Aradia."

Up 'till now, Hiro and Ran were silent the whole time but now they realised that their friend needed the push to accept that title here.

"She is right." Hiro placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"You can never run away from it." Ran grinned. "We always thought of you and Arata as princes even though you never acted like it."

The queen smiled. "I am glad that you have people to call your friends. Many times I feared that you and your brother would have been lonely while hiding." She stopped in front of a door which was locked. "Takuya, please open the door."

Takuya nodded and produced a key from his leather pouch hanging on his shoulder and unlocked the door.

"I am afraid your friends will have to wait here while I show you something in there."

Ban nodded at Hiro and Ran and followed Queen Renneton inside. The room was fairly large and the walls were covered with tapestries and banners. The wall on the other end remained bare save a silver sword hung on it. The queen crossed the floor and removed it.

"Your father always knew that one day, Kaidou will betray the crown. That is why, among some of the things he sent to me for safekeeping, he entrusted his favoured sword, _Tranquillity_, to be given to you when you were ready." The queen quietly placed the sword in Ban's trembling hands. "He told me that under no circumstances am I to stop Kaidou when he attacked. But he allowed me to prepare you for the difficulties that are yet to come."

"He always knew…" Ban could barely stand at the revelation. "Why didn't he do anything to stop him?"

"I suppose he did not want you or Arata to be in danger should he attempt to stop him. At that time, Kaidou had turned the entire court against him, so it would have been dangerous to make a move. But, should you take back the throne, you are granted the authority to charge the court with treason against your father." Queen Renneton said thoughtfully.

"I know, but I doubt that I really want to instil a death sentence on them." Ban said and got up.

"You are like your father. You share the same hate of death sentence with him." The queen remarked. "Come now. We have to discuss the next move. I understand that Aidara is too small to go against the army of Kaidou; therefore, I will offer you military advice and assistance."

"Thank you very much." Ban bowed and followed her out of the room to join his friends. The time was coming where the Yamano's will resume their dynasty.


	27. Chapter 26

**I don't own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS.**

* * *

Hana was in a bad mood when she woke up. Her arms were aching badly from being tied behind the tree and her throat was sore from not drinking any water at all for the past few hours. To make matters worse, Jessica had purposely sat in front of her, drinking from her leather pouch.

"Ah, this is so refreshing." She sighed in content. "Water is really important for hydration. But I doubt that really matters to you." She sneered.

Hana refused to rise to the bait and closed her eyes to make it look like she was ignoring her. But they snapped open when Jessica slapped her.

"Don't ignore me when I'm talking." She warned.

"Why should I listen to you?" Hana levelled her glare at her. "By the way, you have a really good talent in slapping people. Do you always do it to people who you hate or to people who you believe did you wrong?"

Like she expected, Jessica grabbed her by her shirt and slammed her back into the tree. "No one talks to me that way!"

"Maybe more people should to knock some senses into your head."

"Why you-!" Jessica raised her hand to slap her again but Muraku grabbed her wrist in time to stop her.

"That's enough Jessica!" He yelled furiously. Her actions had reminded him painfully of the time when he could not stop Jessica from hurting Hikari. "She is may be our prisoner, but you have gone too far!"

Jessica jerked her hand away and stormed back to the camp. Muraku turned his furious gaze at Hana. "I wouldn't recommend trying anything against us."

"What makes you think that?" Hana said sarcastically. "She's the one who started this."

"Just keep quiet." Muraku hissed. "And nothing will happen to you."

Hana eyed him warily as to gauge whether she should defile the order or keep her mouth shut. In the end, her defiance won out. "You don't have to be so snappy with everyone! Stop thinking that it's your fault Hikari is hurt because she would definitely tick you off in this state!"

"Don't talk about her!" Muraku nearly roared. "She's nothing but a traitor!"

"Oh, the fact that you're beating yourself up doesn't helps it." Hana deadpanned.

Muraku gritted his teeth, wondering how could his brother even like her. As though sensing his thoughts, she rolled her eyes. "I'm usually this _friendly _to people who treat me just as friendly."

They glared at each other until Hana tilted her head. "You like her don't you?"

"Once." Muraku admitted. "But that was before she admitted to be a traitor."

"Who's the real traitor?" Hana challenged. "The one who betrays the king he sworn to serve or the one who seeks justice for the fallen king? I know you heard our conversation last night. The way you were sleeping was too stiff for someone to be really sleeping." She said the last part smugly.

Muraku stared at her incredulously. "How would you even notice that?"

"You have to be observant and perceptive to survive this long as a hunter." Hana said with a hint of pride. "Besides, I was once a slave. You'll learn these traits to stop yourself from dying of boredom. It's actually quite fun to see what people think you don't and assume you aren't looking."

Muraku would have been amazed at that but he had enough self-control to not show it. "Can you please be honest with me?"

"Depends on what you are asking." Hana shrugged.

"Was Hikari telling the truth that my grandfather killed her mother?"

Hana froze and refused to look at him. "It is not my place to say but I will tell you this. Ask her brother."

"Her brother?"

"The one who knocked you out." Hana said drily. "He's Hikari's twin. But don't mention that I told you this. I'm divulging enough information as it is."

Muraku looked like he wanted to ask more questions but Vanessa approaching them made him close his mouth.

"Muraku, good morning." She bowed slightly. "Jin said that you should join them for breakfast. He'll handle her's." She gestured at Hana.

"Thanks." Muraku nodded and followed her back to the campsite. "How is your shoulder?"

"Sore, but it'll heal." Vanessa waved it off. "By the way, what were you talking with her about? We could hear you yelling back at the camp."

"Hikari."

Vanessa's face screwed up in pain at her friend's name. "Sorry. I don't know what happened but I heard from Kageto that she was hurt back there."

"It is because of me that she is hurt. The worst thing is, I still want her to be my friend despite being on opposite sides." Muraku confessed softly.

"I know." Vanessa answered just as softly. "In my heart, I know that she would never hurt us intentionally. That's why I cannot accept that she is a rebel."

Hana let out a breath she did not know she was holding as their voices faded in the distance. She had to act fast. Jin would be here any minute which means she would be unguarded until then. She swung her legs behind her until she could reach her boots and took out a small knife from the hidden compartment in the heel. When she was first captured, her pouch, bow and arrows were taken away from her but they failed to search her boots. Hana smirked at their ignorance. In fact, she still has one more knife tucked away in her sleeve for emergencies.

* * *

After resting the night at Wecasta's palace at the queen's insistence, Ban and his friends were ready to head back.

"Thank you for your hospitality, but we have to go back. I am worried about my other friends." Ban bowed to the queen as he prepared to head down the mountain.

"I understand." Queen Renneton nodded. "You and your friends are always welcome here if you need a place to hide from Kaidou. In fact, I would like to invite you to move here and set up your base here."

"Thank you for the offer but I would have to put the idea through my friends first." Ban smiled.

"Very well. Takuya will see you safe passage down the mountain. I wish you a safe journey." The queen bowed. She turned to Takuya and leaned in to whisper. "Take care of him."

"I will." Takuya promised and got on his horse. "Come on. We must leave now before the sun is at the highest point."

Ban, Hiro and Ran nodded and pushed their horses forward. When they were a good distance away, Queen Renneton released a sigh and looked up at the sky. "He grown up and matured to be like you, my friend. You and Marie may be at peace now."

* * *

Hana grinned as she finally cut through all the ropes. She had to pause half way when Jin came over and fed her some bread which was a tense silence as Hana refused to look at him or even speak to him. When he left, she remained unguarded. Now, she had to retrieve her things and get back to the base.

"Where are they?" She muttered and swept her eyes across the area and spotted them hanging on a branch not too far from her position. 'They must have thought that I would not be escaping.'

She slipped her pouch around her waist and her bow and arrows over her shoulder. With them in place, she began to make her almost perfect escape...almost.

* * *

"We better check on her." Mikhail muttered to Muraku. "It has been a while since Jin last did so."

Muraku nodded in agreement and grabbed his sword just in case and went over to the tree with Mikhail. Suddenly, his friend stopped him and pulled him behind a tree. He gave him a questioning look only to be answered with a nod at the tree. Much to his surprise, Hana had broken free of the ropes and was taking her things from the branch they hung them on. He then realised it was a bad idea to not check for other weapons.

"We have to stop her." Mikhail whispered to Muraku.

"No. She is bound to be heading back to her base. We'll follow her undetected first and then report back to grandfather." Muraku told him. "Get Jin here."

Mikhail nodded and slipped back to the camp. A few minutes later, Jin came over quietly and peaked over Muraku's shoulder. "I'm not sure if this plan of yours would work but I think we could try it."

Muraku nodded and waited until Hana had gone ahead before slipping behind another tree as she walked ahead. Suddenly, she froze and spun around, catching Jin mid way into sneaking behind the same tree Muraku was behind. Anger and betrayal flashed in her eyes before she took off running.

"Wait!" Jin and Muraku broke into a run to chase after her. But Hana naturally did not slow down.

"Jin, where do you think she's going?!" Muraku yelled.

"I don't know but there's nothing up ahead except a...gorge." Jin said as realisation dawned on him. "She's going to the gorge! We have to stop her!"

Muraku turned his head in confusion at him. He did not understand why Hana was headed there...unless she does not want the secrets of Aidara to be found by their grandfather!

They soon broke into a clearing. Ahead of them, Hana was teetering on the edge of the gorge.

"Hana, don't do this." Jin warned.

Hana turned to him with a disappointed look in her eyes. "I was wrong. You are nothing but puppets to your grandfather! You can't even follow your own hearts."

"Please, step away from the edge." Jin begged.

Hana shook her head sadly. "Your grandfather always betrays his allies, including you. If you truly want to keep your friends safe, leave him."

With her last words, she tipped back into the gorge.

"No!" Jin ran over but it was too late. Hana had already fallen down into the gorge.


	28. Chapter 27

**I don't own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS.**

* * *

Yoshimitsu Kaidou tapped his fingers impatiently on the armrest of the throne. It has been nearly two weeks since he sent his grandsons and their servants to investigate Aidara's presence in Misora Town. In fact, he regretted his decision because it was taking longer than he anticipated. With the arrival of Princess Yuno, he needs at least one of his grandsons around to be betrothed to her and secure the alliance with Odela.

"Your highness." Tougoro Kamiya, his most trusted adviser came up to him. "It is my pleasure to inform you that the weapons you asked for are right on schedule. They will be ready for testing by the end of the week."

"That is not good enough." Kaidou frowned. "Hasten the production. I want it done in two days time!"

"But sire..."

"That is an order." Kaidou snapped. He turned to a soldier at the door and ordered. "Get Sir Kamiya here!"

The soldier bowed and came back a few minutes later with the said knight.

"You called for me your majesty?" He said, bowing.

"Gather your men and go to Misora Town! Find my grandsons and bring them back." The king slammed his fist on the armrest. "They are taking too long! Tell them they will be replaced with someone _more _capable."

"As you wish your highness." Sir Kamiya bowed.

"And have your men torch the forest when you complete your task." Kaidou added after a second thought. "I have grown tired of waiting and it is time to flush Aidara out!"

* * *

"Jin, let's go." Muraku gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "There's nothing we could do now."

Jin quietly nodded and trailed behind him. Muraku sensed his brother's distress as they headed back to the camp. He paused and gave him a meaningful look. "You still love her." Jin did not say anything but Muraku continued, "I'm sorry I made you follow her just now. She must have felt betrayed that you were using her to get Aidara."

Jin halted in his steps and shook his head. "Maybe if I had just let her go last night, this would not have happened."

"But it would have eventually happened."

Jin spun around with a sharp glare. "What?"

"Hana was trying to warn us about grandfather. I also heard your conversation last night and I know that you refuse to listen to her." Muraku stared back.

"You have no right to eavesdrop on us." Jin snapped.

Muraku's control snapped and he yelled, "Yoshimitsu Kaidou was lying to us the whole time! He killed King Yamano and his family in cold blood!"

Jin recoiled and spun around. "He did that?" He asked in disbelief.

Muraku nodded sadly. "I overheard him talking about it with Gardyne. He said that he killed King Yamano and his wife eight years ago to get the throne. Hikari also said that her mother was murdered by him."

Jin refused to believe it. Despite everything Hana and Muraku told him, he could not fathom the fact that Kaidou is a killer and worse, a traitor to Aradia. Ever since he was adopted, he was told that his grandfather took the throne after the former king died of a disease.

He clenched his fist and turned to Muraku. "What are you going to do from here?"

"I don't know." Muraku admitted. "But I know that I certainly don't want to return to the palace."

Jin huffed and folded his arms. "Do what you want, but I cannot accept all of this. I'm going back. But don't worry, I won't tell grandfather of everything you told me."

Muraku looked conflicted and reluctant to leave without his brother but with Hana's final words in his mind, he made up his mind. "Fine, but I want to take my friends with me if they want to go with me."

* * *

Just as he expected, Mikhail, Vanessa and Kageto each had similar disbelieving looks at his proposal.

"Muraku...you want to run away..." Mikhail started but did not know how to finish.

"Because...you believe the king is a murderer." Vanessa finished hesitantly.

"Not because I believe. I know it is true." Muraku said firmly. "But I want to hear your opinion on this. Take note that I will not go back though, no matter what."

"I guess there's no dissuading you." Kageto sighed. "But I think this is a foolish idea."

"Well...as your personal bodyguard," Mikhail paused. "I agree with Kageto; but as your friend, I wherever you go, I'm going too."

Vanessa shook her head. "I personally don't understand what happened that made you decide on that but I'm with you."

Kageto looked at her in surprise. "What about your parents?"

"I don't want to leave them but if what Muraku says is right, then I'm not going to let him go through this alone." Vanessa admitted.

Kageto looked defeated. "I can't really talk you out of this but I don't want to be the one explaining our disappearance. I'm coming with you guys."

Muraku was stunned by their words for a while but eventually broke into a smile. "Thank you. I don't want Yuuya or Jessica to find out about this, so we leave now."

The trio nodded and quietly snuck away from the campsite and hoped on their horses which they saved from Bandit. Then, they galloped off to the west with no actual direction in mind.

* * *

"Where's Muraku?" Yuuya frowned when he realized that Muraku was taking a long time discussing some matters with his friends. He turned to Jin who had an impassive expression. "Jin?"

"He said that he does not want to go back to the palace."

"What?!" Yuuya and Jessica yelled in shock. "But why?"

"Personal reasons." Jin merely said. "I am not going to stop him in case you are wondering. He is old enough to make his own decisions."

"But..." Jessica opened her mouth to protest but Jin cut her off.

"We are moving in an hour so get ready."

Yuuya and Jessica exchanged looks. Something must had happened to drive Muraku away and made Jin depressed.

* * *

"We will go our own ways from here." Takuya told Ban when they reached the same gorge Hana jumped down. He had showed them a new route to get from Wecasta to Aradia's forest without needing to go through the gates and Ban made sure that Hiro memorized the route for emergencies.

Ban nodded and shook his hand. "Thank you for bringing us here. Give my thanks to the queen for her hospitality once again."

"Can you get back to your friends from here?"

"Yes." Ban nodded. "We will consider the queen's offer and probably head to Wecasta before winter."

Takuya nodded and spun his horse back to the direction he came from. "We will meet again soon."

As soon as Takuya was out of sight, Ban took a deep breath and guided his horse along the edge of the stream with Ran and Hiro behind him.

"Ban, do you really want to move to Wecasta?" Hiro asked after a while.

"We might be forced to." Ban shrugged. "Kaidou is already suspecting our base location which is why he sent Jin and Muraku to scout the place. It will not be long before he does something drastic. Before that happens, I don't want to be around for that."

Ran frowned sadly. "Do you think Kaidou would harm our friends if he finds out about us?"

"Yes." Ban nodded solemnly. "That is why we must not take the chance and expose ourselves just yet."

Hiro and Ran exchanged looks and rode on behind Ban. Not too long after that, Hiro spotted something along the shore of the stream. "Ban, what's that?"

Ban followed Hiro's gaze and frowned. "I don't know. But I'll go check it out. Stay here."

Ban got off his horse and carefully approached the thing Hiro spotted and gasped. The thing was none other than their friend, Hana!

Ban quickly dropped to her side and pressed two fingers on her wrist and as relief to find a plus but he realised that her condition was far from well. There were several long, deep cuts across her abdomen and back and her right arm was twisted in an awkward direction.

'Oh dear. Just what happened to you Hana?' Ban wondered and he gently picked her up and went back to his horse. Hiro and Ran were just as surprise as he was to see Hana.

"Hana!?" Ran gasped. "What happened to her?"

"I don't know." Ban got up on his horse and placed Hana in front of him. "But we need to get her to Ami now."

Ban snapped the reins and made his horse go faster. Ran and Hiro followed his suit to rush back to the base so that Hana can get medical attention from Ami.


	29. Chapter 28

**I don't own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS.**

**To one of the guest who reviewed, Chapter 28 is taking a long time because I'm going by the order of: Hybrid's Inferno, Different Than You or The Side Stories No One Likes to Share, Journey to the West, then Aradia's Throne. So please be patient. I won't change the order even if you beg me too.**

* * *

Once Ban's group returned to their hideout, they handed Hana over to Ami while Kazu pulled them aside to his treehouse to deliver the bad news. None of them could believe that their youngest friend was gone.

Ban paced around the room and buried his face in his hands. "How did this happen?"

"I'm not sure, but Hikaru told me she was distracted by Muraku Kaidou that she did not know that a Bandit was sneaking up to her until he stabbed her." Kazu told them plainly. "But the strange thing is, Ami told us that the wound was not that fatal to endanger her life but she still passed away."

Hiro and Ran exchanged frowns and looked at Ban for an answer. Ban frowned in thought for a moment and suddenly snapped his fingers. "I got it! It was not the spear that killed her, it was poison. Kaidou must had known about her for a long time and somehow got her exposed to some sort of poison for a long time."

"But, how can we be sure that it was poisoning?" Ran asked skeptically.

"We could take a look." Ban said, looking at Kazu. He nodded and brought them to the forging cave where they had temporary removed all the equipment and kept Hikari's body covered with a sheet.

Ban pulled back the sheet and nearly gasped at the sight of her. It took all his will power to focus on the task instead of the body. He lifted her hand and pointed at her nails. "Look, her nails are yellow in colour. And there are black veins showing on her fingers."

The others crowded around to have a closer look. Kazu was especially surprise. "Why didn't we see this earlier?"

"I have no idea, but it might have appeared after she died." Ban said grimly.

"Ban!" Gouda called as he ran into the cave. "We have a problem. Sir Kamiya is heading towards Misora Town. We heard from our spies that they are planning to find the princes and then torch down the forest!"

Ban narrowed his eyes and paced around the cave. "This is very bad. Kazu, I'm sorry I have to make this decision without you or Ami approving, but you have to trust me."

"I'm with you." Kazu smiled and grasped his friend's shoulder. "Ami and I will stand by you no matter what."

"Good." Ban turned to Gouda. "Tell everyone to pack up and gather at the campsite. We are going to give Hikari a funeral she deserves and then head out to Wecasta after that so it is important that we leave nothing important behind."

Gouda was surprise at Ban's order but nodded. "Got it." He ran out to spread the order.

"Kazu, I need you to prepare the funeral pyre." Ban told him. "The sooner the better."

"Alright. I'll have Ami pack my things." Kazu told them and ran out.

"I guess we better pack now." Hiro said to Ran who nodded. But when Ban did not move, Hiro tapped his shoulder. "Aren't you coming too?"

Ban gave him a weak smile and gestured him to go ahead. "I have something to do here."

Hiro and Ran gave him knowing looks and left the cave. Ban turned his attention back to Hikari and finally allowed his tears to come out. "I'm so sorry. If I had known that Kaidou had known who you are, I wouldn't had asked you to go back there."

He pressed his lips on Hikari's forehead and squeezed her lifeless hand. "Good bye little sister."

* * *

The funeral was held an hour later with everyone gathered. Even Hana insisted on being there despite her injuries. No one knew how exactly she ended up like this but she refused to talk to anyone about it, not even to Ban. Knowing time was at essence, Ban decided to give a quick speech before cremating Hikari's body.

"I know this is hard for every one of us, but we have to keep going." Ban began. "We have to complete our mission. It's the only way we can honour her and everyone who fell because of Kaidou. At the same time, we must stay strong. Kaidou will be relentless in seeking us out now. I don't want to lose anyone else, that's why we must end the Kaidou Empire before it is too late or we will lose more than we have." He paused for a second to get a hold on his emotions. "Hikari was more than a friend and member of Aidara, she's also the little sister whom all of us cared for. In some ways, I'm glad that she is no longer here to go through the suffering we may go through from here. She may not have been able to coop with it."

He ended his speech and took a burning branch from the fire nearby and handed it to Hikaru who tearfully set the pyre on fire. Flames licked the body before consuming it completely. An hour later, the fire died down and Hikaru gathered up the ashes with Arata and Haruki's help and placed them in a clay jar and sealed it.

Once they were done, Ban nodded for them to get on their horses. "Arata, I want you to go with your friends and Hana ahead of us. Kazu, Ami and I will gather whatever information we can on Kaidou's new weapon that we heard about before catching up with you."

"But what about the others?"

"I told Gouda and Asuka to find the princes and make sure Sir Kamiya does not find them to give us more time. As for Hiro and Ran, I sent them to Misora Town to spy on him. That way, they can warn Gouda and Asuka in case they try to do something."

Arata was not to please with the plan, but one look from Ban warned him otherwise. "Alright." He begrudgingly agreed. "But be careful and don't do anything reckless."

Ban managed to muster a small smile at that comment. "I thought it was you who was always the reckless one."

But Arata did not acknowledge the joke and wrapped his hands tightly around Ban. "If you die, I'll find a way to bring you back to life so that I can kill you again."

Ban let out a nervous chuckle and rubbed Arata's back. "I'll just have to stay alive then."

"You better." Arata mumbled. He pulled away and saddled up his horse. Ban gave him a map and pointed at the gorge.

"You'll need to travel in there to avoid detection. After that, you can find your way easily from there."

Arata looked over the map once and placed it in his saddle bag. "Alright." He turned to his friends and nodded. They nodded back and hopped into the saddle of their respective horses. Ban went over to Hana and helped her up the saddle.

"Are you alright?" He asked concernedly. Hana nodded wordlessly and proceeded to check on the straps but Ban grabbed her hand to get her attention. "When you are ready to talk, we'll be there for you."

Hana nodded wordlessly again but Ban could see tears streaming down her face. He made a mental note to demand answers from Jin Kaidou if he ever has the chance to do so. Somehow, his gut told him everything that happened to Hana has something to do with him.

"Ban, don't do anything to Jin if you see him." Hana spoke up as though she read his mind. "I'll deal with him myself. This is between me and him. If possible, I'll make him suffer for using me."

"Using you?" Ban questioned. Now he was worried. He knew Hana's time as a slave had scared her in many ways he dare not imagine. And for her to believe Jin, the man she loved and whom she believed to love her too, use her, it would not be a good thing for Jin and for her. "Hana, don't let Jin make you lose the bigger picture. I don't want you to be driven by anger and hurt to fight."

"I'll try." Hana said softly and snapped the reins to make her horse move and caught up with Arata who had gone ahead slowly so that Ban could talk to her.

Ban wish that there could be a way to help her but he could not directly interfere with her problems. Instead, he could only be there for her and hope that she does not do anything to harm herself before he got to Wecasta to join them.


	30. Chapter 29

**I don't own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS.**

**Sorry for the long wait. I just started college and I think I might have to slow down for a while propably until I settle down.**

* * *

"Alright, so we need to gather everything we know so far about both the Kaidou Empire and Bandit. Hopefully, we can find something that can give us a clue about Kaidou's new weapon." Ban declared. He, Kazu and Ami were in one of the vacant tree houses while the others were out to complete their tasks.

Ami and Kazu nodded and Ami took out a scroll and a quilt pen. "First off, I think we should establish a timeline."

"First, Kaidou takes over Aradia eight years ago." Kazu ticked off his fingers. "Two years later, he conquers ten small kingdoms for objecting his rule on Aradia."

"But for the bigger kingdoms like Wecasta, he waited for half a year before trying to conquer Wecasta." Ban added. "That encouraged the other kingdoms loyal to father to band together and push back Kaidou. But under Queen Renneton's request, they left the Empire alone."

"Why would she do that?" Kazu wondered in frustration.

"If you think about it logically, it is sensible to not let them take the Empire just yet. If they did conquer Aradia and suddenly died before Ban or Arata were restored, their children might take over and would not be as loyal as their parents." Ami pointed out.

"Ok, you have a point there." Kazu slowly nodded. "Anyway, back to the timeline. Bandit is set up by Seredy not too long after that. And then he and the other advisors are appointed two months after that."

Ami scribbled everything into the scroll and looked up. "Don't you find it strange? If Seredy was the leader of Bandit, he would have known that you are our leader." She said pointedly at Ban. "Yet, he never reported it to Kaidou at all."

"You're right." Kazu said grimly. "He does not like Aidara at all and he wants to overthrow Kaidou. Yet, he did not let Kaidou get rid of one problem but leave us be so that we can take down Kaidou."

"All I can guess is that he's letting the weaker fraction take down the stronger one." Ban concluded. "Then he can easily take down the weaker one."

"That little…"

"Kazu!" Ami reprimanded him before he could curse Seredy. Kazu immediately shut his mouth. Ami sighed and looked at her timeline. "Moving on, Sir Kamiya is knighted less than six months after that. That makes it two years since the Kaidou Empire was established. Nothing much happened after that. We sent Hikari to spy at the palace five years ago. But that is a huge gap to me since Kaidou took five years just to take action."

"I think we can safely assume whatever Kaidou did to poison Hikari did not start until recently or she would have died a long time ago." Ban mused. "Did he timed this so that we would watch Hikari die?"

"Most likely." Kazu snorted in disgust.

"Perhaps, the weapon Kaidou invented needed five years to plan and make." Ami mused silently.

"But what exactly is this weapon that it needed to be planned and manufactured for five years?" Kazu wondered out loud.

"It's the same reason Hikari took five years to fix the trapdoor to the tunnel we escaped in all those years ago." Ban said softly. "We needed to do a lot of planning just to make sure it works perfectly again and to make sure no one finds out, she can only fix it at certain times and even then she can only do so much in a few minutes."

Ami nodded solemnly in agreement while Kazu squeezed his eyes shut.

* * *

"There they are." Hiro whispered to Ran from their hiding spot on top of the roof of one of the houses in Misora Town just across the mayor's building. Sir Kamiya had just arrived with two soldiers.

"What if they find out that Bishop is no longer here and search the forest?" Ran whispered worriedly.

"Then we have no choice but to split up. I'll continue to tail them while you warn Asuka and Gouda."

Ran opened her mouth to protest but Hiro cut her off. "I will be less suspicious because the Empire does not know me. However they know you because of your grandfather."

Ran pursed her lips because she knew Hiro was right. "Fine, but let's see what happens to them afterwards."

* * *

"That's strange. There's no sign of Muraku Kaidou or his friends." Asuka frowned as she and Gouda watched Jin, Yuuya and Jessica wander aimlessly, obviously lost. They were watching them from the tree bridges while silently following them.

"What are the odds they know that we are following them and sent him off to trap us?"

"Very little." Asuka shrugged. "But we should keep our guard up. I don't like the situation. It's too suspicious."

"Neither do I. Why don't you do the honors?" Gouda gestured to the well placed trap they laid for animals which can be triggered when someone cut the ropes tied to the tree bridges.

Asuka smirked and waited for the trio down there to be in position and sliced the ropes with her spear. Instantly, a net sprung from under Jin, Yuuya and Jessica's feet and hauled them up to the tree line. Asuka and Gouda ignored their screams and shared a high five.

"We got them and Sir Kamiya won't find them now." Gouda smirked.

"Yeah. And now, we wait for Ran and Hiro."

* * *

Meanwhile, Ran was still watching from the roof while Hiro had gone down and casually walked past Sir Kamiya and his soldiers just as they came out of the building.

"…no one there." Sir Kamiya told his men. "But reports says that he was on his way to the palace with the local blacksmith who is accused of associating with Wecasta and treason. There is also mentioned that he was supposed to be travelling with the princes. But that was two days ago."

"Shouldn't they have arrived back at the palace by yesterday?" One of the soldiers mentioned. Hiro did not bother to listen anymore and slipped away silently. He went back up to Ran's position and whispered, "They know that Bishop is supposed to be heading over to the palace but he never arrived there."

"That would mean they will try to retrace his steps and will surely come across the site of the bloodbath." Ran frowned. "And when they do, they will suspect either Bandit or us. Either way, Sir Kamiya will probably search the forest then."

"I think there's no point in splitting up now. We just have to trust Asuka and Gouda to get the princes out of the way before it's too late."

They slipped off the roof and went back to the forest.

* * *

Sir Kamiya twitched his eyes when he noticed some movement at the corner of his eye. He tilted his head slightly to have a better look but there was nothing. He narrowed his eyes but turned his attention back to the soldiers. "There's no need to find Bishop. I have no doubt that Aidara has something to do with this. We will concentrate on our mission to find the princes and find out what happened to Bishop and his prisoner after that. I suggest we start with the forest."

The soldiers saluted and proceeded to march to the forest. On the other hand, Sir Kamiya was thinking hard.

'It's very likely that Aidara is spying on me. I better keep my guard up.' He smirked. 'I'm make sure that they will learn to never mess with the Empire again.'


	31. Chapter 30

**I don't own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS.**

* * *

Back at the base, Ban and Ami were hurryingly packing several important documents which they missed when packing up while Kazu was outside, getting ready the horses of everyone so that they can make an immediate getaway as soon as the two groups came back.

"All done." Ban told him when he and Ami came back with a leather bag filled to the brim with scrolls. "Have the others came back yet?"

"No." Kazu shook his head. "And I'm getting worried. I'll go and have a look."

"No Kazu." Ban shook his head. "We cannot afford to get separated anymore. We have to put our faith in them and know that they will come back in time."

Ami and Kazu pursed their lips but knew that Ban was right. If they separated now, the chances of more of them getting caught would go up. With Sir Kamiya here now and the princes out there, it was best not to be out there.

* * *

"Hey you, let us down!" Jessica screamed at Gouda and Asuka who were smiling smugly at them for the past few minutes

"No can do." Asuka drawled. "We have our orders. Though I was hoping that we would get both of the princes, not just one."

"So this is how you managed to avoid Bishop and everyone else's attempts to find you." Jin narrowed his eyes at them, ignoring Asuka's last remark. "You were up in the trees all along."

"Too late to find out, princy boy." Gouda snickered. "We were spying on you all along since the day you stepped into Misora Town, through Hikari when you are in town and one of us in the forest."

"And the meadow?"

"Both."

"Jin, what are you talking about the meadow?" Yuuya asked in confusion.

"I knew someone was following and spying on us the moment we were at the meadow." Jin said with a frown. "They must have done that through the forest on those bridges."

"Correct. Though I must say, I enjoy scaring those snotty, rich, stuck up nobles who think they can rob the poor to feed the rich than to spy on you." Gouda said spitefully. "You make me sick with all your pretense of trying to be good when you are Kaidou's minions!"

"You're one to talk about pretense!" Jessica retaliated. "You claim to be peacemakers when all you have done is brought chaos to the Kaidou Kingdom!"

"Did we ever say that we were peacemakers?" Gouda asked Asuka innocently.

"I don't think so." She shrugged. "Must be a false rumor."

"Jessica, please stop it." Jin warned her. "We are not getting anywhere by arguing with them."

"But we have to get out of here."

"I know." Jin quietly slipped out his knife from his pocket. "Distract them." He whispered.

"How?" Yuuya asked.

"How 'bout you stop doing anything suspicious?" Gouda spoke up and shot an arrow at the knife in Jin's hand from his crossbow. The knife fell out of Jin's hands and onto the forest floor.

"Strike!" Asuka cheered. She held out her spear and flipped it so that the tip was pointing straight at them. "Remember, no funny business."

"Let us go!" Jessica screamed like a girl throwing a tantrum. Jin and Yuuya looked very embarrassed at her actions while Gouda and Asuka were laughing out loud. They stopped when Ran ran over.

"Ran?"

"We got trouble." She whispered to them. "Sir Kamiya is coming and is really planning to set the forest on fire. Hiro went to let Ban know about this. I think we better get back now."

"But what about them?" Gouda asked while pointing at the trio in the net.

"I think we can leave them here. It's not like they can find them anyway. Even if they do, they can't catch up with us on time."

"Right. Come on." The three of them ran off, leaving Jin, Yuuya and Jessica hanging in the net.

"Hey, let us down!" Jessica yelled for them to come back.

"No." Gouda smirked and as soon as Asuka and Ran had moved to another bridge, he cut down the one they were one and all the others surrounding the tree. "Bye bye. Hope to never see you again."

"Jin, what should we do now?" Jessica whined.

Jin had to resist the urge to snap at her and took a deep breath to calm down. "We wait. They wouldn't leave us here without guarding us if someone isn't looking for us. It may not take long before someone finds us."

* * *

Meanwhile, Arata and the rest were travelling slowly as they passed through the gorge where Hana had fell down. There was no conversation between any of them since they were only depressed on losing Hikari and leaving their home.

Hana, who was behind them, suddenly slowed down when they came to the spot where Ban, Hiro and Ran found her. As much as she wanted to pretend that there was nothing between her and Jin, she could not help but wonder where their relationship stood all this time. In the beginning, she hated him but eventually, he grew on her. But after he found out about her identity, she thought that he hated her for a while before he allowed his love for her to overcome it. However, something told Hana that the hate was still there. And she could not deny the fact that she still has some lingering hate towards him.

'I see where we went wrong.' Hana sighed inwardly to herself. 'We always had a love-hate relationship without knowing it. We never gave much thought to the hate that was still in us. We should had just forgave each other instead of overlooking it.'

"Hana watch out!"

Hana snapped out of her thoughts just in time to avoid the arrow aimed at her head. She reacted quickly and pulled out her bow and arrows, shooting at the direction the arrow came from while ignoring the pain from her still recovering injuries. Someone cried in pain and fell off the cliff into the river. Hana could not stop the gasp that slipped out of her mouth as memories of her own fall played back in her mind.

Arata too reacted quickly and deflected more arrows with his sword with his friends doing the same with their weapons. The blacksmiths on the other hand, went to hide against the wall since they could not defend themselves. Hana was quick in getting rid of all their attackers and made quick work of them with her arrows.

"Arata, head off!" Hana yelled at him. "I'll hold them off!"

However, like she expected, neither Arata nor the others wanted to move. "Let us help you!"

"I promised Ban that you will reach Wecasta safely and I intend to keep it! Just go, I'll be right behind you!"

But Arata refused to budge so Hana had to pull a rank on Haruki and Hikaru. "Haruki, Hikaru, as Arata's bodyguards, you have to get him out of out of dangerous situations like this!"

Hikaru glanced at Haruki and they shared a groan, knowing that Hana was right and they needed to get Arata to safety. So, Hikaru grabbed Arata and hauled him on his horse despite his protest while Haruki grabbed Takeru and Sakuya and placed them on Arata's now vacant horse before getting on his own. In the mist of Arata's loud protesting and Takeru and Sakuya's confused cries, Hikaru and Haruki managed to get them out of the way.

Hana wasted no time in firing her arrows up at the cliffs and there were several howls of pain but she blocked them out. Her defeat, however, came from where she expected it the least. Two cloaked figures jumped down the cliff. One landed in front of her horse, distracting her, while the other landed behind her on her horse and knocked her out with a well-placed cross cut between her shoulder blades.

The one in front of the horse smirked and threw off the cloak, revealing a women around Hana's age with pale blond cropped hair and red eyes. "We got her."

"Just as the bossed demanded." The one who knocked Hana out smirked too and did the same with his cloak, showing a man with white hair and red eyes too. The laughed and hauled her off to a crack in the cliff wall which no one had noticed before and disappeared.

* * *

**Ok guys, I'm letting you know that there will be one or two more chapters before I move on to the sequal(though I think I'll call it the second book). Anyway, here's a small preview of what might happen (I'm still thinking up of the plot so don't be surprise if this happens differently)**

_"Behold, I present to you a former member of Aidara!"_

_Everyone in the court snapped into attention, Jin and Yoshimitsu Kaidou especially. Seredy smirked and snapped his fingers. Two of Bandit's members disguised as his servants pulled the bloody form of Hana Kayagi. Jin barely surpressed a gasp while Yuno's hands flew to her mouth at Hana's badly beaten up condition._

_ The former king on the other hand was wondering as to what Seredy was planning now. "Seredy, where did you find her?"_

_ "Some where in the forest by my servants and guards." Seredy said evasively. "I had thought about it and an idea had came to me when she was brought over to my place and I decided to test it on her."_

_ "And what is that?" Jin hissed._

_ Seredy's smirk grew and forcefully opened Hana's mouth with his hands. "Look inside and you will see that something is missing."_

_ Jin narrowed his eyes at Seredy's treatment of Hana but did as he was asked and his eyes became wide as saucers. "What happened to her tongue!?"_

_ "I cut it off." Seredy laughed. "Behold the perfect slave! One that can never talk again nor go against its owners! The mutusa!"_

**Ok I'll stop here before I reveal too much. Yes, I borrowed the idea of Avox from Hunger Games. Until then.**

**PS. Is it just me or am I making Jessica more and more immature?**


	32. Chapter 31

**I don't own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS.**

* * *

"Ban!" Hiro panted as he ran up the bridge to Ban and Kazu who were waiting for him. "You were right. Sir Kamiya is heading over here now."

"Where's Ran?"

"She went to get Asuka and Gouda. They should be back any minute." Hiro reported.

"Good." Ban nodded. "Because the moment they come back, we are leaving."

Ban and Kazu nodded and they went down to prepare all of the remaining horses while Ami and Ban kept watch for the remaining trio in the woods.

* * *

"About time." Jin muttered when he saw Sir Kamiya below them. "Sir Kamiya!"

Sir Kamiya looked up and had to suppress a smirk. "Prince Jin! I did not expect to see you _hanging_ up there."

"Enough with the sarcastic remarks." Jin said, not impressed with his pun. "Get us down from here."

"Yes sire." Sir Kamiya turned to two of his men. "Find a way to cut the ropes and get them down. I am going to scout the area for Prince Muraku. The rest of you stay here and make sure Aidara don't come to this area."

"Sir!" The men saluted and went to do as assigned. Once Sir Kamiya was sure they would not mess up, he walked around the area and was surprise to see rope bridges hanging down from the trees.

"What in the world are these bridges doing here and why are they hanging down from the trees?" Sir Kamiya asked himself, feeling baffled. But upon a second look, understanding dawned in his eyes. "So that's how they did it." He smirked.

Once he returned to his men, he frowned. "Sire, if I may, where is Prince Muraku and his servants?"

"I don't know." Jin said curtly. "But he made it clear to me that he does not intend to return to the palace."

"Are you saying that he defected from the Empire?!"

"Yes."

The soldiers shifted awkwardly but straightened up when Sir Kamiya cleared his throat. "Enough. If he does not intend to go back with us, I have no intention of chasing him down. I trust you to tell the king about this, sire?"

Jin closed his eyes and nodded. "Do what you have to do. I will take full responsibility of Muraku's actions from my grandfather."

Sir Kamiya nodded back and turned to two of his men. "Escort them back to Misora Town and the rest of you, start the fire."

"Sir." The soldiers saluted and went to their task. Jin stared at Sir Kamiya with a horrified expression but followed Yuuya and Jessica out of the forest.

* * *

"Alright." Ban huffed as he got up his horse. Once Ran, Gouda and Asuka returned, they were quickly rushed on their horses. Now, they were waiting for Ban's signal to leave. "We have to time this correctly. Once the fire spreads, they will try and flush us out at various points. If we try to escape too early, they will catch us. If we wait for a second later, the fire will consume us. That's why, when the fire is just about to reach here, we will head for the river in a huge U-turn and ride along it until we reach the gorge. If your horse panics, abandon it and continue on by foot or on another person's horse."

"Wouldn't that be risky?" Gouda wondered.

"It is. But it is better than being tortured to death." Ban shrugged.

"Point taken."

"Look!" Ran pointed at the smoke column to the west.

Ban narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on the reins. "It's coming."

They waited for a few minutes for the fire to get closer. Once it was only a hundred meters away, Ban snapped his reins. "Now!"

Instantaneously, everyone followed his suit and they galloped off west while trying to put some distance between the flames and their horses. Luckily, their horses sensed the fire and began galloping faster. Ran's horse suddenly bucked and threw her forward.

"Ran!" Hiro quickly stopped beside her and pulled her up his horse. "You're ok?"

"Does it look like I'm ok?" Ran snapped as she rubbed her side where she landed on. "I think I broke a rib or two."

"Keep going! We cannot afford to stop now!" Gouda told them when he passed them.

Hiro nodded and snapped the reins of his horse to make it move. But because of the extra passenger, he was significantly slowing down, much to Ban's dismay.

"Hiro, don't bother about me, just leave me here and save yourself." Ran pleaded, having noticed this too.

"No! I'm not leaving my friend behind!" Hiro said determinately. He snapped the reins again and the horse went a bit faster but it was still not enough.

Ban bit his lip and directed his horse back to Hiro's horse. "Ran, get on my horse. It's stronger so it should be able to take your weight."

Ran nodded and hopped behind Ban. Hiro sighed in relief and they quickly galloped on to catch up with the others before the flames caught them.

* * *

"Sir Kamiya, we circled the entire forest perimeter as you ordered but there is still no sign of them." One soldier reported.

"Keep looking, they have to be somewhere."

"Sir."

Sir Kamiya strode along the walls of Misora Town, frowning in thought. 'Just where could they be? There is no way they could not have escaped.'

He stopped when he reached the river and scoped up a handful of water to drink. Just as he was about to for the second time, footsteps approached him so he turned around and smirked. "Sire, I thought you were supposed to be inside the town."

"I want to know something. Who told you to set the forest on fire?" Jin demanded.

"The king did of course." Sir Kamiya said nonchalantly. "I would not have done something as heinous as this if I had not been ordered to."

Jin clenched and unclenched his fist. "So has anyone been found?"

"Nope. I am beginning to think that they had already escaped."

Jin frowned in confusion. 'How is that possible?' His eyes landed on the river and followed it. The pieces clicked in his mind and he smirked. "Sir Kamiya, I think I know where they are now."

* * *

Over at the gorge, Ban glanced back and sighed when the fire died down. "There goes our home."

Ami nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I can't believe they can be so cruel."

"The concept of cruel is etched in everything that screams Kaidou." Kazu scowled.

Ban tilted his head and frowned. He still believes that Jin and Muraku have some good in them, even after what they had done to Takeru and Hana. He shook his head and stopped his horse. "We will rest for fifteen minutes and move on. It will not take long before they find us."

Everyone relished the break and got off their horses and allowed them to drink from the river while they washed off the soot from their faces.

"Hiro, thank you for saving me back there." Ran thanked him.

"It's nothing." Hiro grinned. "You would have done the same."

* * *

About an hour later, Sir Kamiya and his men finally reached the gorge but there was no one in sight. But there were hoof marks in the sand but it had been wiped off after a few meters.

"Damn it." Sir Kamiya cursed. "They have escaped."

Jin frowned from behind him and looked around. He did not want to be here but there was little choice since he was the only one who knew the way here. "It is pointless to chase after them at this rate."

"I know that." Sir Kamiya growled. "Men, we are leaving." He turned his glare to Jin. "Sire, I suggest you get your friends ready because I am not in the mood to deal with any of you."

Jin was slightly taken aback by his rudeness to him but nodded. "Very well. We will meet at Misora Town's gates." He signaled for two of Sir Kamiya's men to follow him. Once he was out of ear shot, Sir Kamiya turned to the rest of his men. "I want all of you to keep an eye out on Prince Jin. It is clear that he is hiding something and I want to know what it is."

"Sir! It's that treason?"

Sir Kamiya glared at the soldier who spoke up. "It will be treason if he is actually scheming something and we fail to find out what it is. Understood."

"Yes sir."

Sir Kamiya waved off his men and walked down the shore to try and calm down. He glared at the hoof prints and kicked the sand. "Once I get my hands on all of you, there will be no escape."

* * *

**I decided to give you guys a second preview of the second book of Aradia's Throne and I am still not quite sure of the plot so don't expect too much.**

_"You need to make a choice. It is either Kaidou's or us."_

_"And what if I don't want to?"_

_"I may be lenient and not force you to choose but your brother will."_

_"I do not recognize the person who is sitting on the throne of the Kaidou Empire. My brother is long gone."_

_"Only because he was misguided like you once were."_

_"Even so, I will not choose a side, at least not until I understand both sides of the argument."_

_Ban raised an eyebrow. "Both sides of the argument?"_

_"Ever since I left the Kaidou Empire, I have been travelling to get more information about Kaidou Yoshimitsu and his goals as well as yours. There is still one more missing puzzle from the whole story." Muraku patiently explained_

_ "And what is that?"_

_ "Why did Kaidou Yoshimitsu upsurp your father in the first place."_


	33. Chapter 32

**I don't own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS.**

**Sorry I didn't update over the weekend but I usually get distracted then the most and I watched the Avengers: Age of Ultron yesterday. My brother and I agree that Scarlet Witch was so awesom and cool!**

* * *

Hana glared at her captors heatedly as they continued to make fun of her. With her hands tied above her head, there was little that she could do to them.

"I hope you are feeling comfortable." Seredy suddenly spoke as he approached her. The rest of Bandit instantly quiet down and moved away, leaving them alone.

"Seredy Krisler." Hana spat out in disgust. "May I ask why did you kidnap me?"

"Simple." Seredy smirked. "You see, I have been observing you and Jin Kaidou for a while now and I have seen the connection between the both of you."

"What does that have to do with all this?" Hana hissed furiously.

"I see that I had hit a sore spot." Seredy smirked and folded his hands behind his back. "But to answer your question, I have been plotting against King Yoshimitsu Kaidou for a long time. His…takeover, as I might call it, had unknowingly inspired people like me to rise up against him. You see, Yoshimitsu had been planning to start a war against various neighboring kingdoms for some time. He is only bidding his time to complete his secret weapon which I am unfortunately not aware of. I hate war so I plan to kill him so that his plan will not be able to be carried out."

"If you hate war then why did you constantly attack Aidara?"

"Aidara and Bandit have completely different goals even though we were going in the same direction." Seredy explained calmly. "You fight to restore the Yamano dynasty but I want to end every single kingdom in the whole area. That way, there will be no more division, no more discrimination and most importantly, no more wars!"

"But you will have to have war if you want to conquer all those kingdoms." Hana frowned. "That will send out different signals and people will reject you as their ruler. A king does not earn his rights to the throne through violence or cunningness but through wisdom and respect."

"So Ban Yamano has taught you well." Seredy nodded approvingly. "I agree with that statement but once the people understand what I am trying to do, I am sure that they will accept me as their king."

"If they even understand it."

"And you will play a huge part of my plans to take down the Kaidou Empire." Seredy continued while ignoring her. Hana felt a chill run down her spin as she felt something about the way he said that scared her. Seredy leaned in closer and held his sword to her neck. "Jin Kaidou is to replace his grandfather as king when he turns eighteen while Yoshimitsu takes up the position of his main teacher until he dies. _You_ will be the perfect person to help me control Jin Kaidou then."

Hana's eyes became wide and she swung away from him and spun her body to kick him. However, Seredy anticipated this and blocked it with the hilt of his sword and repositioned his sword to her throat. Seredy chuckled at her failed attempt. "Don't try to do anything funny. You will help me whether you want to or not."

"And if I don't?"

"You wouldn't want to even rebel against me when I break your spirit." Seredy said with a cruel smirk. He snapped his fingers and a lone figure covered with a cloak came over.

"What is it?"

"Teach her how to be an obedient slave."

* * *

"What?! Hana is not with you?" Ban exclaimed. His group had finally caught up with Arata's at the foot of the mountain and he was utterly shock that Hana was not with them.

"Bandit attacked us and she made us get away but I thought you would have saw her." Arata said, looking worried.

"We didn't." Kazu said grimly. "Where was the last place you saw her?"

"At the gorge."

"But we didn't see her or anyone there." Asuka pointed out.

"Don't tell me she was captured by Bandit." Haruki muttered worriedly.

"It may be the only explanation why she did not find you or why we never saw her." Ban clenched his fist and looked up to Wecasta. "Come on. We can ask Queen Renneton to help us find her. The sooner we get there, the less risk we will run into more trouble."

"I agree with you." Gouda said warily as he eyed the gates behind them. All of them quickly got to the cave and Hiro, having memorized the route, took the lead and guided them around the caves.

* * *

Queen Renneton sat in the gardens of her palace with a letter in hand. It was given to her by her friend among all the items he entrusted her and she had read it over an hundred times so she knows the letter word by word by heart. But, it was the content of the letters that made her unable to discare it as until now, she was unable to believe it.

"Junichirou, I really hope that you are right or all of our planning will be in vain." She mumbled to herself as tears slipped down her cheeks. "But, Ban should not be given such a heavy responsibility at his age without you to guide him."

"Your highness."

Queen Renneton quickly wipped away her tears and turned around to address her other advisor. "Yuusuke, what is it?"

"Prince Ban is here." He reported.

"Is Prince Arata with him?" She enquired curiously.

"Yes, he is." Yuusuke nodded as they walked back to the palace. "May I ask if you are sure of this?"

"Yuusuke, I am widowed without any children. Junichirou was kind enough to let me be Arata's godmother. So under that assumption, I will pass down my throne to my closest kin which is him." Queen Renneton patiently explained.

"In that case, if you truly have faith in him, then Takuya and I will back him up in anyways we can." Yuusuke bowed.

"Thank you Yuusuke." Queen Renneton inclinded her head gratefully. "This will also open up an opportunity for Wecasta and Aradia to become allies once again."

"Indeed, but there is a problem with this concept." Yuusuke pointed out with a frown. "There may be a chance that family rivalry will eventually catch up to their future generations."

"I am worried about that too but we must focus on Kaidou now. I will discuss about this with Ban when the time is right."

"As you wish." Yuusuke paused in front of the door that would bring them to the throne room. "By the way, we received new information from our spies that Kaidou has completed his new weapon. They said that they are close to finding out what it is."

"Good. The sooner we know what it is, the sooner we can come up with a counterattack against it." She took a deep breath and entered the throne room but was astonished to see both of them looking very axious. She lightly cleared her throat and they jumped.

Ban quickly got in front and bowed down with Arata following his suit. "Queen Renneton, thank your for having us here."

"It is always a pleasure to have you here." Queen Renneton curtasied in returned and turned to Arata. "You must be Arata."

"Yes." Arata said shyly.

"Um, Queen Renneton, we have a problem and we need your help." Ban spoke up. "We believe one of our friends have been captured by Bandit and we need your help to find her."

The queen paused and folded her hands. "I will do what I can but my spies are having a hard time moving around in Aradia because of the cornation ceremony which is going to be held next month. So, it will take some time to start the search."

Arata and Ban's faces screwed up at the mention of the cornation ceremony. They had been so engross with the princes in Misora town that they forgotten that Jin's cornation ceremony will be held next month. "Then, how long do you think it would take for them to find her?"

"I do not know that myself." Queen Renneton sighed. "But I will do everything I can."

"Thank you."

Queen Renneton nodded and gestured for them to follow Yuusuke. "Go with him. He will take you and your friends to the safe house I had prepared."

"Thank you once again." Arata and Ban bowed and followed Yuusuke out.

Once she was sure they were gone, she clenched her fist. "Bandit."

* * *

"Jin, I am very disappointed in you." Kaidou Yoshimitsu growled as he stood in front of Jin in his room. Rather than calling him in the throne room, he decided not to make a huge sceen and summonded his remaining grandson to his own room.

"Forgive me grandfather, I should have tried harder to stop Muraku from leaving…"

"I am not talking about that!" Kaidou snapped. "You allowed Aidara and Bandit to toy with you."

Jin bit his lip. As much as he wanted to expose Seredy, a letter came to him that morning that made him immediately changed his mind. Instead, he lowered his head. "I am sorry."

"Whatever. With Muraku gone, it leaves you to be the only prince here now. Which means, you have to marry Princess Yuno Kashima." Yoshimitsu said and carefully watched for anything out of the ordinary. Sir Kamiya had informed him that Jin was hiding something and he wanted to know what it is.

Jin somehow managed to get his emotions under control and the only sign of distress was the clenching and unclenching of his fist. "Why? Why must I marry her?"

"To secure the alliance with Odela." Yoshimitsu smirked. "By the way, as your punishment for letting Aidara and Bandit get away, I am reducing Jessica Kaios to the rank of a normal servant and Yuuya Haibara to the rank of a normal soldier. You are not to talk to them ever again if you see them."

Jin's mouth dropped open. "What? But they had nothing to do with this."

"It is obvious that Jessica is throwing herself on you and Yuuya is not competeble enough to protect you if Bandit can ambush you." Yoshimitsu Kaidou said casually. "It is better than throwing them out, isn't it?"

Jin gritted his teeth. If he said no to the marriage, who knows what Kaidou Yoshimitsu would do to his friends or Vanessa's parents and Kageto's father. Swallowing his pride, he nodded. "Yes."

"Good. Your marriage will be held in two years time when Princess Yuno is of age. As for your cornation, it is next month. I am not letting you go anywhere until then in case Aidara or Bandit tries anything." Yoshimitsu concluded the meeting and waved his grandson out. "Now leave. I have much important things to do."

"Yes, grandfather." Jin said as politely as he could and left with a bow. He immediately headed for his room without stopping to talk to anyone. Once he was in the sanctuary of his room, he allowed his tears to fall out. Everything was wrong now. He had no idea if Hana was alive, Muraku abandoned him, his friends were demoted and he could not longer talk to them, and worst, he was to marry someone he did not know or love.

'This is all Aidara's fault!' He thought venomously. 'They took everything from me, so I will return the favour.'

**The end...**

* * *

**Wait just a minute~ The story isn't finished~**

**Look forward for the second book of Aradia's Throne which I don't know when I will start on but I know I will look forward to write.**

**Battle for the throne**

** Second book of Aradia's Throne. Five years have passed since Aidara had fled to Wecasta and five years since Jin Kaidou continued the legacy of terror on Aradia. Now, choices must be made by friends and enemies. But when a third fraction declares its existence, they find that neither kingdom is safe. Luckily, Ban and Arata finds an ally in someone they once thought as their enemy and an old friend whom they lost. **


End file.
